Something We Call Life
by Toasty Warrior
Summary: Watch as Naruto and Sakura get into all sorts of adventures in these collection of one shots ranging from anything humorous, romantic, dramatic, and in-between.
1. Captive

Usually when Naruto went on missions they were either solo or with his team, but this mission in particular required the assistant of another person and that person was none other than his teammate Sakura Haruno. The both of them were on their way back from another successful mission which entailed protecting a princess.

It was simple enough, but having to protect her from every little threat wore the both of them down and they had yet to rest which meant their chakra reserves were low. Naruto wanted to stay a day and rest, but since Sakura was in charge of the mission she decided to forgo any rest and wanted to get back to Konoha.

Naruto walked a few steps behind Sakura as they traveled the road back to Konoha. They would usually use the cover of the forest to get back, but Sakura figured the roads were quiet enough that no one would attack. Eventually fatigue got the better of Naruto as he started to lag behind Sakura even more which didn't go unnoticed by her.

"Naruto, can't you keep up? We're probably only a few hours away from Konoha." Sakura said as she stopped for a moment to allow Naruto to catch up.

"Sorry Sakura-chan, I'm usually better than this, but having to protect her from anything and everything really wore me out. I'm sure you're feeling the same, right?" Naruto asked.

Sakura didn't want to admit it, but she was in much worse condition than Naruto. Her bones were practically screaming at her to rest and use some of her chakra to heal them, but Sakura stubbornly ignored her body's demands, that is until her stomach let out a huge growl which Naruto could hear. She was expecting him to say something smart, but surprisingly Naruto didn't as he walked off to the side of the road and sat down, motioning for Sakura to join him. She didn't argue with him as she took a seat next to him.

Naruto as always broke into his stash of ramen and began to eat some of it dry which in a way disguised Sakura. "Honestly Naruto how can you stomach that stuff even when its dry?"

Naruto took another handful of ramen and ate it before answering back. "I've doing it for years, so really it's no different to me." He took another bite before changing the subject. "I can't believe how fast we were able to complete that mission, usually it takes us much longer, but then again this is what… the fourth or fifth mission we've taken escorting princesses?"

"I've lost count too Naruto… they all seem to be the same to me after a while." Sakura said as she took a drink of water.

"And I can't count how many times each of those princesses always seem to have the hots for me." Naruto chuckled as he finished eating his ramen.

"Not too mention the fact that they always want to get in your pants as well." Sakura added.

Naruto blushed a bit red at Sakura's comment as he responded. "You really think so Sakura-chan? I mean I've noticed a few of them always getting close to me and blushing brightly red as they do. I always thought it was due to the weather or them being sick."

Sakura couldn't help but smile at Naruto's response. It was so like him to say something like that despite being seventeen years old now. There were plenty of girls after him now and despite their advances on him, he always regarded each girl with either being sick or just being envious at his status of being The Hero of Konoha.

In fact at times Sakura was jealous of all the other girls making advances at Naruto. She herself in recent years had become quite enthralled with Naruto. Sakura didn't want to admit it, but sometimes she imagined herself with Naruto, kissing him, telling him how much she loved him. Yet her stubbornness and unwillingness to admit to Naruto that she was in love with him prevented her from doing so.

Now wasn't the time to allow personal feelings to get in the way of the mission. Sakura cleared her head of those thoughts and stood up. "Well, we've had a small break, but I think its time we get going."

Naruto nodded his head and picked up his pack as he followed closely behind Sakura. They kept traveling for another few hours until they reached a clearing and without realizing Naruto was right in front of Sakura with a kunai drawn as he eyes darted back and forth.

"What's wrong Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"I thought I heard something when we passed that clearing, but maybe I was just hearing things…" Naruto said as he began to put his kunai away until his eyes caught something. It looked as though Sakura had tripped some sort of trap as they past the clearing. He thought it was just a basic trap until he saw a familiar symbol. He quickly grabbed Sakura and wrapped himself around her the best he could as a sudden explosion knocked them off their feet. The both of them hit the dirt hard, but Sakura's fall was softened by Naruto as he received most of the damage.

Naruto and Sakura didn't have time to ask each other if they were okay as another explosion went off and it came straight for them. Using what chakra he had left Naruto effortlessly shoved Sakura out of the way of the explosions, but it wasn't enough as a shock wave from one of them sent Sakura crashing into a nearby rock. The force of hitting the rock knocked the wind out of Sakura and her vision started to faint in and out. The last thing she saw before passing out was Naruto's smiling face as he threw her out of harm's way. She also didn't seem to notice the tears forming in her eyes as she passed out finally.

**XxXxXxXx**

A man in his late twenties strolled down the same road that Naruto and Sakura had just taken and he seemed to be searching for something as he continued walking down the road.

"I hope Kenji is right about this. He said something about hearing the explosive trap going off, but so far I don't see anything," the man said to himself as he searched the area for any signs of what set off his trap. He was about to give up when he spotted something pink near a rock. He immediately ran up to whatever it was and looked surprised as he peered down at the unconscious body.

"Well, I'll be… our trap caught us something good for once!" he then reached down to gently caress Sakura's pink hair. "She's quite pretty too. I wonder if she's a civilian or shinobi?" he looked down once again at Sakura's unconscious body and didn't see a headband. "She must be civilian then, but I've never seen a civilian with such a weird hair color. It's not a problem though since my brother and me won't be lonely from now on. We have ourselves a new play thing!"

The man looked around to make sure no one else was coming and once he deemed the coast to be clear he gently picked up Sakura and put her on his back taking her to wherever he was going.

**XxXxXxXx**

Naruto felt his head spinning as he opened his eyes, but his vision was blurred. He tried rubbing his eyes to see if it would help and it seemed to do the trick as they readjusted themselves. Naruto immediately jumped to his feet ignoring the ringing in his ears from the explosion. He looked around to see if Sakura was there and called out to her. "Sakura-chan? You there?"

There was no answer and Naruto started fearing the worst for Sakura, but he shoved those thoughts to the back of his head as he began searching for Sakura. After a few minutes of searching the area there was still no sign of Sakura. Naruto started to panic as his fears got the better of him and his mind began to play out possible scenarios in which Sakura died.

"No! She's not dead! I refuse too believe that!" Naruto yelled out as he dropped to his knees.

If he couldn't find any trace of Sakura, how could she be alive then? Naruto slammed his fist into the ground as tears began to well up in his eyes. "Another failure… I couldn't even protect Sakura-chan from a simple explosion and now she's dead… all thanks to my stupid ass!"

It also reminded him of past failures, him not being able to save Jiraiya and most recently not being able to save Sasuke from his own hatred. "I'm cursed… anyone precious to me always ends up getting hurt or worse… it hurts even more because I failed the one I love."

Naruto wouldn't admit it, but he still held onto his feelings for Sakura even after Sasuke died and in recent months they matured thanks in part to Sakura herself telling him that it was okay and how they would recover from what happened. He wanted to admit his feelings to Sakura, but didn't think he deserved her love especially after killing Sasuke. Now there was no one left to admit his feelings too and worse of all how would Tsunade handle this? Naruto couldn't take the stress as he began to cry even harder.

"Please… don't let Sakura-chan be dead! I don't know what I'd do without her…" Naruto said as more tears were shed.

In his moment of grief Naruto didn't seem to notice something shiny from the corner of his eye, but when it reflected off his eyes he finally took notice of it and ran over to whatever it was. He bend down and picked up the object which turned out to be Sakura's headband. The usual red material was slightly burnt, but mostly intact. He figured this was Kami's way of giving him at least something to remember Sakura by. He nestled the headband close to his face and took in its scent. It smelled vaguely of Sakura, but more burnt like thanks to the explosion that supposedly claimed her.

It was at that moment when Naruto got an idea. He remembered how he used sage mode to track the true Nagato down and confront him. If he used the same tactic with Sakura's headband perhaps there was a chance he could find her. Wiping the tears from his eyes Naruto sat down on the ground and closed his eyes.

He focused the best he could as he began to gather up natural energy and it wasn't long before his eyes changed to yellow. Naruto held up Sakura's headband and closed his eyes once again hoping to pick up on something. It seemed to work as he picked up a pulse, but it was weak from what he gathered. Wasting no time Naruto headed in the direction of Sakura's chakra signature. "Hang in there Sakura-chan, I'll be right there!"

**XxXxXxXx**

Sakura slowly opened her eyes only to see darkness and she wondered where she was. She tried moving her arms and legs, but she couldn't get them to response. Sakura could only conclude that either her arms and legs were badly injured from that explosion or she was tied up. Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness of wherever she was she could clearly see that they were tied and despite only having a trace amount of chakra Sakura couldn't break the ropes. They seemed to be chakra infused ropes which prevented her from breaking free.

Just when Sakura was about to make another escape attempt the door to the room opened and a rather large man stared down at her. "So you're finally awake are you?" Before Sakura even had a chance to response she found herself slung over the man like a piece of meat. She remained silent as the man carried her off to wherever they were going.

It wasn't too long before Sakura found herself in a much larger room with about a dozen men who seemed rather eager and Sakura knew all to well what the eagerness in their eyes meant, she just hoped it was something else entirely. She was unceremonious dropped to the ground and a much smaller man stood before her now as he looked down at her and smiled.

"So you're finally awake my beauty. I've got to admit out of all the catches we've made over the years you're the best…" he responded as he reached out to touch Sakura's hair.

"Get your hands off me you filthy animal!" Sakura said as she spat in the face of the man.

The men in the room all gasped as their leader wiped the spit from his face and smirked at Sakura before roughly grabbing her by the fabric of her vest. "Not only is she beautiful, but she's also a firecracker. I like what you brought me Kenji. You should be proud of yourself for such an amazing find."

"It was nothing Ryu… if anything she'll make a good wife to your kids since you seem to know where she comes from." Kenji responded bashfully.

Sakura was shocked by Kenji's words, but tried to ignore the wife part as she spoke up. "What do you mean you know where I come from?"

Ryu gently let go out Sakura as he turned around to face his men. "My brother isn't the smartest person around, but when he brought you back here I instantly recognized the symbol on your back. It maybe only a circle, but I recognize it as the Haruno symbol and that makes you the apprentice of the Hokage of Konoha right?"

"I'm not saying anything to you…" Sakura said as she turned away from Ryu, but it wasn't for long as he grabbed her once again and this time held her up.

"You don't have to say anything to me Haruno, but I know if you have children they'll be powerful and an excellent addition to my group. Just think of the possibilities! You'd be happier here than you are in Konoha." Ryu said as he smirked once more at Sakura.

"You know what I think of your offer Ryu…" Sakura said in a low tone.

"What would that be my dear?" Ryu asked in a seductive tone, but as soon as he said that he felt himself keel over in pain as Sakura delivered a knee to his balls.

"You can take your offer with your bruised balls you bastard!" Sakura yelled out as she tried to get some foot hold, but unfortunately the odds were against her and the men were able to subdue her. Ryu slowly got up and held his balls in pain as he forcefully back handed Sakura.

"You bitch! I offer you a chance to be my wife and you refuse. If that's the way you want to play I'll just have to force myself upon you!" Ryu sneered as he made a few hand gestures and two of his men were right besides him. "I want you to take her to my room, strip her and tie her down to my bed!"

"NOOOOOO!" Sakura screamed out as she tried to fight against the men, but they gained the advantage again by punching Sakura in the gut which knocked the wind out of her. Sakura could feel herself being dragged to Ryu's room and many thoughts raced through her head.

_"So this is how I end up? Being someone's sex slave and being forced to have his children? I wish there was something I could do, but I can't. These chakra infused ropes are draining me of any chakra I have… I really wish I could have told Naruto how I felt about him. I'd much rather lose my virginity to him than this ugly bastard."_

Sakura's thoughts were interrupted as she felt herself thrown onto the bed and the men quickly tied her to the bed. They seemed stumped on how to remove her clothing as they should have done that beforehand. The guys just shrugged as they reached for Sakura's red vest and began to pull the zipper down.

She closed her eyes in hopes of not having to see them, but all of a sudden she felt them stop undressing her and the sounds of someone getting beat up. Sakura thought that maybe Ryu was mad at his men for not undressing her properly and kept her eyes closed as she felt the ropes being undone and surprisingly her zipper being zipped back up. She opened her eyes briefly expecting it to be Ryu, but this person that held her had blonde hair and he smiled down at her as he called out that familiar name she was used too, "Sakura-chan."

Sakura began to cry freely at the mention of the name and tightly wrapped her arms around Naruto as he held her close, gently stroking her hair. "I'm here now Sakura-chan."

After crying for a few more moments Sakura seemed to either pass out or fall asleep from her injuries as Naruto gently put her on his back. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, I'll get you out of here away from these sick bastards."

Even with Sakura on his back Naruto made quick work of Ryu's henchmen and his brother Kenji. He wasn't above killing them for what they did to Sakura, but he figured showing mercy to them might make them think twice about kidnapping someone. He reached the entrance to their place when Ryu blocked his way.

"Stop right there! Where do you think you're going with my wife to be?" Ryu asked.

"Wife? I don't think so asshole… this is my teammate and if she's going to be anyone's wife, she's going to be mine in the future!" Naruto responded back with anger.

Ryu seemed intrigued by Naruto's response as he answered back. "That's a bold claim for a shinobi who busts in here and takes out all of my men, but leaves them alive. Tell me stranger, just who are you?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Hero of Konoha and future Hokage of my village and you picked the wrong person to kidnap!"

"Uzumaki Naruto you say? I've heard tales about you, but I believe they're all false. There's no way a shinobi such as yourself can be that strong."

"You care to find out?" Naruto taunted Ryu who in turn smirked at him.

"I'd be more willing to find out! ARGHHHHHHH!" Ryu charged at Naruto with his sword drawn, but Naruto easily dodged the attack despite Sakura being on his back and shoved a rasengan into Ryu's stomach which sent him flying into the nearest wall. Debris and chunks of the wall fell on top of him effectively covering him up.

Naruto smirked at his handy work and continued to walk towards the entrance as he looked back. "I told you not to mess with me."

**XxXxXxXx**

A few hours later Sakura woke up and found herself on a makeshift bed. She looked around to see Naruto was not too far from her as he was fast asleep. Sakura softly smiled at Naruto's sleeping form and got out of the bed to check herself for her earlier wounds, but it seemed as though Naruto had taken care of them for her.

She walked over to Naruto's sleeping form and smiled at him again. He seemed so peaceful the way he slept and for some reason it made Sakura feel safe and secure. She grabbed the blanket from her makeshift bed and covered the both of them as she snuggled next to Naruto and whispered something to him as she fell asleep again.

"I love you Naruto."

Naruto seemed to hear Sakura's words as he smiled and consciously moved in closer to Sakura muttering something as he did. "I love you too Sakura-chan."


	2. Broken Leg

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF SAKURA-CHAN?" Naruto blurted out as he stood before Tsunade.

"I'm making you take care of Sakura because of what happened or did you already forget Naruto?" Tsunade asked.

Naruto remained silence as he recounted what happened on that mission. It was like any ordinary mission, Team Kakashi was supposed to do some recon work and report back to Tsunade about their findings, but like most missions they were always unpredictable and anything could happen. Unfortunately for Team Kakashi they were ambushed by rogue ninja who seemed better trained than the usual bunch. As always Naruto rushed head on into battle and managed to take out quite a few of them, but one managed to sneak up on him and almost delivered a fatal blow if not for Kakashi's timely intervention.

Sakura herself was a whirlwind of destruction easily dispatching quite a number of them and once most of them were either knocked out cold or dead Sakura admired her handy work, but it wasn't for too long as she heard a rustling noise from behind her and managed to turn around in time to see one of the rouge ninja come at her with a poison tipped sword. She closed her eyes fearing the worst, but suddenly heard someone yelling at her. In an instant a yellow flash of sorts was in front of her and pushed her out of the way. Naruto easily dodged the attack and countered with a rasengan ending the threat of the rouge ninja, but unfortunately Naruto's protective nature of Sakura cost him this time.

He turned around to see Sakura on the ground holding her right leg in pain and he wondered what was wrong. Upon closer inspection Naruto could see that Sakura's right leg looked a bit deformed and he got his answer as Sakura began to yell at him for breaking her leg. It turned out that Naruto had pushed Sakura into some rocks and since she didn't have time to react she fell down on them hard and ended up breaking her right leg. The whole way back home they didn't say anything to each other while Kakashi had the honor of carrying Sakura home.

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts as Tsunade waved one of her hands in front of his face. "Are you even listening too me Naruto?"

"Huh? Oh sorry Baa-chan… I was just thinking about what happened." Naruto responded as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't forget, but there's a reason I'm having you take care of Sakura."

"Is it because there's no one else able too help Sakura-chan out or is it because she requested me personally?" Naruto said with some excitement in his voice, but his excitement was shorted lived by Tsunade's response.

"Not exactly Naruto, I'm assigning you to take care of Sakura as punishment for what you did." Tsunade stated.

"But it wasn't my fault! I just responded naturally and tried to save Sakura!"

"I know you did Naruto, but your little stunt ended up putting one of our best medics out of action for at least six weeks!" Tsunade shouted making Naruto cringe up a bit.

"Can't Sakura-chan just use her healing chakra to speed up the process and heal her broken leg?" Naruto asked cautiously.

"She could, but as a trained medic Sakura knows that using her healing chakra to heal a broken leg could lead to some severe consequences and make it heal improperly. So it's important that she allows it to heal naturally." Tsunade said.

"I see, but do I really have to be the one to take care of her? Can't you find someone else?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade groaned to herself at Naruto's response. Usually he'd jump at the chance to take care of Sakura, but given the circumstances she could see why Naruto would want to avoid her. She knew Sakura was more than capable of taking care of herself, but after visiting her one day and seeing how much trouble she was having Tsunade got an idea in her head that would make Sakura forgive Naruto and perhaps finally make those two move on from a certain someone. It was the perfect plan, but it just needed a little kick in the right direction.

Tsunade mentally smirked to herself as she answered Naruto back. "If you don't take care of Sakura Naruto I'll have you banned from doing any missions higher than D rank for the length it takes Sakura's leg to heal. I'm sure you don't want that do ya?"

Naruto remembered how those D ranked missions were as they mostly entailed doing simple chores for people and the worst one was always having to rescue that damn cat. It seemed as though everyday that old lady put in a request to rescue her cat and it ended up scratching Naruto's face most of the time. He didn't want to relive that again as he quickly responded. "Of course I don't! I hate having to do D ranked mission since the pay isn't worth crap! I'd much rather take care of Sakura-chan!"

Naruto immediately ran out of Hokage Tower not even allowing Tsunade to answer back, but she didn't seem to mind as she just smiled and took a drink of her sake as he left.

**XxXxXxXx**

Soon enough Naruto found himself in front of Sakura's apartment unsure of if he should knock or just leave. Part of him wanted to leave just because he was afraid of what Sakura might do if he showed up at her door, but if he didn't do as Tsunade asked he would be forced to endure D ranked missions until Sakura's leg was healed, so he was screwed either. He nervously brought his hand up to Sakura's door and lightly tapped on it. After a few moments there was no response and Naruto figured Sakura must be asleep or out.

"Maybe I'll comeback tomorrow since Baa-chan didn't exactly say when to start." Naruto said to himself as he turned away, but he heard the door open and nearly jumped ten feet in the air as Sakura called out to him.

"Naruto? What the hell are you doing here?" Sakura asked in a mildly irritated tone.

Naruto slowly turned around to face Sakura and he was surprised to see that she wasn't doing too bad although her hair seemed a bit unkempt while her clothes seemed misshapen, but that's not what drew his attention entirely. It was her leg and it seemed pretty well wrapped up, but Naruto could tell Sakura was in a lot of discomfort judging from the way she was trying to balance herself on the crutches.

"I know we haven't said anything to each other in the past few days, but I thought I'd come by and see how you were doing." Naruto quietly said.

"Do I look okay to you? I'm on crutches and shishou won't even let me work at the hospital until my leg is better!" Sakura angrily said and Naruto knew it wasn't all directed towards him, but still he felt somewhat responsible for Sakura's current condition as he spoke up.

"I'm sorry for what happened Sakura-chan and that's why I'm here… you see Baa-chan wants me to take care of you as punishment for what I did." Naruto stated.

"Is that so or did you just make that up as a means to butter me up for what you did?" Sakura asked.

"No, no I'm not making this up Sakura-chan. If I don't Baa-chan is going to force me to do D ranked missions until your better and I figured taking care of you is the lesser of two evils." Naruto said with a grin.

Sakura blushed lightly at Naruto's gesture, but quickly realized if he was going too take care of her that meant he would have to stay at her apartment. She wanted to punch him for this, but figured he was already suffering enough judging from the way his mannerisms were and the way he was looking at her. Besides she could use some help around her house even if it was for the most mundane tasks.

"I suppose I could use your help with things Naruto, but don't get any perverted ideas about helping me get dressed or bathing since I've already got that taken care of."

"What do you mean you've already got it take care of Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"I already asked Ino to help me for obvious reasons…" Sakura stated.

Both Naruto and Sakura blushed red at what she said thinking of what would happen if they both of them were naked in the same house and bathroom for that matter. They quickly shoved those thoughts out of their head as Naruto changed the subject. "I just need to grab a few things from my apartment if you don't mind Sakura-chan. I'll be back!"

This was definitely going to be quite interesting with Naruto living at Sakura's apartment for the next few weeks, but she didn't know just how interesting it would get.

**XxXxXxXx**

When Sakura thought things would get interesting, she wasn't kidding. Things had gone from mundane to holy shit what was Tsunade thinking. It wasn't Naruto's fault entirely, but he didn't help things by trying to do every single thing for Sakura. One moment she would be reaching for some, the next thing she knew Naruto was right there helping her out with the task and smiled as he did. It's not that she didn't appreciate the help, but helping her with every single thing was starting to irritate her. Sakura wouldn't admit it, but part of her enjoyed the attention Naruto was giving her.

One morning while Naruto was waiting for Sakura to get dressed he was bored and decided to take a look around Sakura's apartment a bit more since he usually didn't look at Sakura's things, but looking at her apartment now he realized that it looked quite plain. He was expecting it to look more well established or at least girly, but in a way he was glad that it remained this way. He looked around a bit more and spotted something on Sakura's coffee table and it turned out to be a photo album.

"Now why would Sakura-chan keep something like this out? Usually things like these are considered personal right?" Naruto asked himself, but he wasn't going to get an answer. He wanted to take a look at the album, but out of respect for Sakura he decided against it until his curiosity got the better of him. He decided to take a look at a few of the photos and then put it back so Sakura wouldn't notice. He was rather intrigued by what photos Sakura kept in the album. Most of them were personal ones of her as a kid which made Naruto smile while others were various ones of her from when she started out as a shinobi up until a few months ago.

He'd seen Sakura a few times as a child, but not like in her photos. This album of hers shed a different light on her, one Naruto never knew about as a few of the photos also contained notes written by Sakura herself stating either a goal or something personal she'd never share. Naruto softly smiled as he continued to look at the photos until he came across the photo of Sakura and him from a few months back when they took the bell test and beat Kakashi. It wasn't the photo that caught Naruto's interest, it was the note underneath it and it read, "_Naruto and I after we beat Kakashi-sensei in the bell test. I can't believe how much we've improved despite being away from each other for two and a half years. It was good to see that baka again since this means he's not leaving again. We'll save Sasuke-kun together this time."_

Naruto was happy to know that despite being gone for two and a half years Sakura still cared about him since he doubted if she did. He didn't realize a few tears had escaped his eyes as he looked down at the photo once more. He was about to continue on when he heard the door opening. He quickly put the photo album back on the coffee table and wiped the tears from his eyes.

Naruto decided to go shopping that afternoon since Sakura was low on food and she was getting rather tired of having ramen since that was the only thing Naruto could prepare. It was sunny in the morning, but by the afternoon it got cloudy and it threatened to rain. As Naruto headed back to Sakura's apartment it started to rain and what was even worse was the fact that it started to thunder. Naruto ran as fast as he could back to Sakura's apartment so the groceries wouldn't get wet. He managed to keep them dry for the most part as he entered the apartment.

It was rather quiet in Sakura's apartment as she would usually either be by the door ready to scold him or just yell at him for doing something wrong.

"Usually Sakura-chan's at the door to greet me, but she isn't. I wonder if she went somewhere with Ino?" Naruto said as he closed the door behind him and noticed none of the lights were on. "That's funny… usually Sakura-chan keeps on one of the lights." Naruto then turned to flip on one of the lights, but it didn't work so he tried it again and nothing. "I guess the thunder must have knocked out the power somehow."

Naruto started looking through Sakura's drawers to see if he could find a flashlight and sure enough he did. He clicked it on and the apartment was lit up by the light as he wondered what to do next. "Hmm… I wonder if I should start dinner since Sakura-chan has cooked most of the time I've been here. I tried cooking a few times, but it didn't work as I burnt the noodles."

He decided that it was best to wait for Sakura to come home and see what she wanted to do. Suddenly Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by a bright flash of lightning and a sudden scream that sounded familiar. "That scream… it was Sakura-chan!"

Naruto heard the scream come from Sakura's study as another bolt of lightning hit while he was searching her apartment. The door to Sakura's study was closed as Naruto approached and despite all the rain he could hear whimpering on the other side. He slowly opened the door and saw that no one was in here until he pointed the flashlight down at Sakura's desk. There she was crutches and all hiding under her desk like a scared child. Naruto could clearly see that Sakura had been crying and he guessed that she was afraid of the lightning. He would have made a smart ass remake, but he cared too much for Sakura to make one.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto softly said as he bend down to join Sakura under the desk. He expected Sakura to say something to him, but he found himself wrapped in Sakura's embrace as if she was using him for support. Naruto could only smile at Sakura's actions as he returned the embrace and held her tight whispering to her that everything was going to be okay.

Eventually the storm passed as Sakura got the courage to move from beneath the desk. She didn't say anything to Naruto as she hobbled her way into the kitchen for obvious reason. Naruto smiled a bit as he joined Sakura in the kitchen to help out.

Neither one of them had said anything until Naruto finally broke the silence. "I never knew you were afraid of lightning Sakura-chan. I always pictured you as being fearless, but I suppose even the toughest of us have something to fear."

"If you ever mention to anyone that I have a fear of lightning I'll beat you to a pulp, got it Naruto?" Sakura stated as she looked at Naruto with killer intent.

Naruto smirked a bit before responding. "Sure I won't tell anyone Sakura-chan, but you know what?"

"What?"

"I kinda actually enjoyed seeing you scared…" Naruto started out, but he soon found himself being threatened by Sakura as she held her fist up to him. "But not in that way Sakura-chan, I enjoyed it because it gave me a rare opportunity to see what goes on in your life since we mostly never see or mention those things. It also allowed me to get to know you better as a person."

Sakura lowered her fist and blushed slightly at Naruto's comment. She was about to say something, but felt Naruto stop her from doing so as he pulled her into a hug. "Thanks for putting up with me these past few weeks Sakura-chan. I know I've been driving you crazy by trying to help you out with everything, but it's who I am."

Naruto release Sakura from his hug as he smiled at and proceeded to set the table for their meal. As Sakura finished cooking their meal she couldn't help but think that maybe breaking her leg was a good thing since it allowed her too learn a few more things about Naruto. It would be at least another three weeks until her leg was fully healed, but she wasn't complaining since that meant Naruto would still be around to keep her company.


	3. Family

Naruto Uzumaki never had the benefit of having parents. He grew up all alone, shunned by those around him and forced to make a life for himself. He was kicked out of the orphanage at the age of six and it was only by the good graces of Third Hokage that he was able to secure an apartment for him. It wasn't the best around, but Naruto would take it if it meant staying off the streets and not having to look at the glares people gave him as they passed by. He never knew why they always looked at him with such hatred. Was it due to the fact that he was an orphan and his parents either abandoned him or never wanted to see him? Naruto would never figure that dark secret out until he was twelve years old.

That night after all the other kids had passed the genin exam, Naruto had failed the test once again further driving him into a state of depression, never thinking he could be a shinobi. It wasn't until one of the academy teachers had told him if he stole the forbidden scroll with all of the village's hidden justu would he be able to pass the genin exam. Naruto took this as his opportunity to perhaps finally become a shinobi and be accepted by those around him. He had no problem stealing the forbidden scroll and he delivered it to the academy teacher that had promised he'd pass the genin exam if he did, but much to Naruto's dismay it was a double cross as the teacher revealed he was going to use the scroll to gain revenge against him for what he did twelve years ago.

It was at this point that the teacher revealed to Naruto that he had the Kyuubi sealed within him. The sole reason he had been ignored and abused most of his life. It drove Naruto to tears about the truth he learned and he figured it was better for the so called demon to die. He willingly accepted his fate to die, but it wasn't meant to be as the other academy teacher, Iruka jumped in front of Naruto saving his life at the last minute.

He smiled at Naruto and told him it wasn't worth dying just because he had the Kyuubi sealed within him. He had to use this knowledge and get stronger so people would accept him. Naruto was brought to tears by Iruka's confession since he was the first person to actually say that he cared for him and using his new found determination Naruto easily defeated his opponent using the shadow clone which he had learned from the forbidden scroll.

Life carried on for Naruto after that and things seemed to improve as he was placed on a team with Sasuke Uchiha and his crush Sakura Haruno. If there was one person that Naruto ogled over the most, it was Sakura. There was just something about her pink hair and emerald eyes that attracted him, not to mention her fiery personality and her large forehead, which he found charming. He knew she had the biggest crush on Sasuke… hell almost all of the girls at the academy had a crush on Sasuke and he hoped that maybe one day perhaps Sakura would look at him the same way. Naruto never let his personal feelings get in the way of missions, but that all changed the day Sasuke left Konoha.

The pain and suffering on her face told Naruto exactly what he always knew, she loved Sasuke and he would do anything for her, just to see her happy. Naruto weakly smiled at Sakura as he promised to rescue Sasuke for her, but that promise never came to pass as during their fight Naruto held back from hurting Sasuke and ended up losing. He was badly injured, but that was nothing compared to the pain he was feeling in his heart. He failed to bring back Sasuke and that drove him to get stronger. Naruto took off on a two and a half year training trip with Jiraiya to get stronger so he could finally deliver on his promise.

He came back two and a half years later, much stronger than he was before and a new hope of finally achieving his goal of rescuing Sasuke. Unfortunately it seemed as though his training wasn't enough as Sasuke escaped his grasp once again. After that Naruto threw himself into even more training while Sakura watched on with concern about how far he was willing to go just to keep a promise. A few weeks later Sasuke was spotted once again in a small village not to far from Konoha. Naruto would go solo this time around as Sakura had injured herself on a pervious mission and wasn't cleared for missions just yet. She begged Naruto to wait until she got better so they could go together, but Naruto insisted on going so he could keep his promise to her.

It was during this time that Sakura discovered just how much Naruto meant to her. It was shocking at first, but the more Sakura thought about it, the better it made sense. Naruto had always been there for her, in her time of need and when Sasuke left, he had found his way into her heart without her realizing it. The final realization came when Tsunade had told her of Naruto's apparent demise at the hands of Sasuke. At first Sakura didn't want to believe it, but after seeing his torn up headband she was forced to believe so. Sakura found herself more than she did when Sasuke had left and it was a testament to just how much she needed Naruto in her life.

Yet fate's hand seemed to be smiling down at Sakura as Naruto appeared alive before her after his funeral. She didn't have the words to express how much she missed him as tears streamed down her face and she tightly hugged him in response. When Naruto was healing in the hospital Sakura confronted him about his promise to her and after a fierce conversation she was finally able to persuade him to give up on his promise albeit this time around she would help him no matter what.

Even working as a team Naruto and Sakura couldn't save Sasuke. His hatred had driven him to a point where if he was allowed to live he'd be a danger to himself and Konoha. Naruto had no choice but to kill the person he once considered a teammate and brother. He would not be alone in mourning as Sakura joined in and helped ease the pain. After Sasuke's death Naruto felt as though he was all alone again much like when he was a child, but Sakura's love helped overcome that loneliness as they finally expressed their feelings to each other one night.

That night also brought about an unexpected gift, one Naruto and Sakura weren't exactly ready for… a child. Even if they weren't exactly ready for something like this they both found out how great of parents they made especially Naruto. He didn't exactly know what it was, but perhaps it was due to being alone for most of his life and wish he had something to call a family. He now had a family thanks to Sakura and he couldn't be more grateful for that.


	4. Bodyguard

How could this happen? One moment Sakura was enjoying her evening and the next thing she knew someone was shooting at her. Then again things like this were normal in her life since Sakura belonged to one of the wealthiest families in the country and she was always a target for either kidnapping or in rarer cases assassination.

That's why her parents hired her a personal bodyguard, one that could protect her from dangers such as this. His name was Naruto Uzumaki and despite being the same age as Sakura he proved to be a valuable asset to her family. He had protected her multiple times against would be kidnappers and even took a few bullets for her, but this time the enemies may have won.

The would be attacker was stopped dead in his tracks thanks to Naruto, but he took a bullet straight to his chest to protect Sakura and he fell to the ground almost immediately afterwords. Sakura cried out as she saw her savior hit the ground and she rushed over to him, gently placing him in her lap hoping he was okay.

Despite being her bodyguard and never supposedly letting her feelings get in the way Sakura had come to love Naruto. He was everything she wanted in a man, he was caring, honest, had a good personality, and best of all he cared for her just as much even if he didn't want to admit it.

"Please Naruto... don't die on me. I don't know what I'd do without you." Sakura softly said as she continued to cry while holding Naruto's head, gently stroking some of his hair.

He wouldn't answer though as his eyes remained close and some blood began to run down his mouth.

"Say something, please!" Sakura pleaded silently, but still there was no answer.

"No, you can't die! Not at least until I admit I..." Sakura choked up as her tears forced her too, but she forced her tears back for the moment as she continued. "I love you..."

Everyone in attendance gasped at Sakura's sudden confession. Many of them were shocked especially Sakura's parents, but many seemed to be happy as if they expected it too happen. Their happiness didn't last too long though as the reality of the situation sank in.

Sakura's father gently squeeze her shoulder and judging from his mannerisms he wanted her to put Naruto down and go back to her house since they were still in danger, but Sakura refused as she held onto Naruto tight. She wouldn't move from this spot not until the paramedics came and hopefully saved Naruto.

Sakura raised her voice at her parents when they tried to remove Naruto from her grasp. "Don't you dare touch him! I'm staying here with him until the paramedics available!"

Her parents could see the emotion in her eyes and if that wasn't enough to convince them to leave her be for the moment, her tear strained eyes told them how much Naruto meant too her. They were about to leave when a voice spoke up surprising them.

"You really should listen to your parents Sakura-chan..." Sakura looked down to see Naruto smiling at her with one of his eyes open. He was clearly in pain, but he seemed to be fine as he flashed Sakura a thumbs up and wped the blood from his mouth.

Sakura let out the biggest smile she could and pulled Naruto into a hug as she cried her eyes out. He gladly returned the hug and looked at Sakura's parents who seemed to be happy that their bodyguard was alive and well.

**XxXxXxXx**

A few days later after the accident Naruto and Sakura were enjoying a peaceful afternoon at her house outside in each others embrace.

"I thought you were a goner Naruto... I didn't think you'd survive." Sakura said hesitantly.

Naruto smiled at Sakura as he gently squeezed her hand. "I might have been a goner Sakura-chan, but thankfully that bullet only gazed my stomach and ended up missed my vital organs. Although there was one more factor that helped."

"And what was that Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Admitting that you loved me," Naruto began as he suddenly kissed Sakura on the cheek making her blush brightly red. "Not only did it give me a reason not to give up, but it also made me realize that if I gave up then I'd be failing not only your family, but the person I love too."


	5. Doubts

Sakura Haruno, now Uzumaki tossed and turned in her bed. She was having a hard time getting to sleep, but given the circumstances she was in, one couldn't blame her for not being able too. Frustrated with not being able to get any sleep Sakura slowly opened her eyes and saw that Naruto was still sound asleep. Sakura softly smiled, glad that Naruto wasn't awake from her tossing and turning. She wanted to wake him up and cry into his shoulder and explain to him her problem, but she felt as though Naruto probably already had enough to worry about without her adding to it. She needed someone to talk too and figured perhaps Tsunade would be the best person to talk too, but that would have to wait until morning. Sakura settled back into her sleep and tried to fall asleep again.

Sakura's problems didn't stem from her being married to Naruto, in fact she was happy and couldn't wish for anything better. It was just the fact that she was already five months pregnant and they had gotten married just a few weeks earlier. The both of them hadn't seen this coming and it was all thanks to one passion filled night.

The wounds of Sasuke's death left Naruto and Sakura sad and broken, and what better way to fill that void by seeking solace in each others arms? It all started with a single kiss and eventually lead to that passion filled night. Sakura hadn't thought things through that night and left herself vulnerable, getting caught up in her lust. That's what lead to her telling Naruto that she was pregnant and him proposing to her.

The pregnancy wasn't the only problem. Sakura feared that she was getting in the way of Naruto's goal of becoming Hokage and she had expressed to him her concern for this, but Naruto would just laugh at her and kiss her on the lips telling her that she wasn't in the way. She knew Naruto loved her, but even his love had to have its limits right? Sakura thought about it for a moment, but the more she did the more it stressed her out and she didn't want to risk the health of the baby so she stopped and it seemed as though her stress finally wore her out enough to the point where she finally fell asleep.

Sakura awoke some hours later feeling better, but looking around she realized she wasn't in their apartment. She was in some sort of large white room that seemed to endlessly go on. Sakura immediately got into a defensive form as she figured this might be some sort of enemy genjustu since she was a prime target for various missing-nin, but why would they have the gall to attack her at home. She focused some chakra and tried to dispel this genjustu, but each time she tired it failed and she was starting to get scared. If dispelling the genjustu didn't work perhaps speaking up might work, so Sakura tried that.

"Hello? Is anyone there? I don't know why you're doing this, but if this is some sort of genjustu please dispel it now!" Sakura yelled out, but to no avail as she remained in this strange place.

Suddenly Sakura heard laughter from behind her and immediately turned around to see someone standing not too far from her. She couldn't quite make out the person but nevertheless yelled out to them. "What's so funny huh? Did you find it funny that you've trapped me in a genjustu?"

The person didn't answer as they just smiled at Sakura and began to approach her finally revealing who it was. It was another woman much older than Sakura with long blood red hair and dark blue eyes, they seemed quite familiar for some reason, but it could be the effects from the genjustu trying to lure Sakura into a false sense of security. She didn't allow this other woman to speak up as Sakura tried to attack her head on, but each hit she threw the other woman easily blocked them. It made Sakura scared and she desperately tried one last attack focusing all her available chakra into it, but woman caught it easily and just smiled at Sakura as she spoke up.

"You know if you keep using your chakra like that you'll endanger the baby." She responded which in turn shocked Sakura.

"How do you know I'm carrying a child?" Sakura said.

The woman gently put one of her hands on Sakura's stomach as she responded. "I can sense its chakra within you and it's not hard to see you've got a baby bump."

Sakura flushed red with embarrassment as she got out of the woman's grip. "Mind your own damn business whoever or whatever you are!"

"I can see why my son picked you as his wife. You're so much like me…" the woman responded with another smile.

Sakura seemed lost yet again and wondered exactly if this was a genjustu. Usually they were never this good and the way this woman was acting she didn't seem hostile at all. It might have been the effects of the so called genjustu, but the way she smiled each time remained Sakura so much of Naruto and how she conducted herself. Sakura decided to drop her defense for the moment and asked the woman who she was.

"I don't want to sound rude, but who exactly are you and how do you know I'm Naruto's wife?" Sakura asked.

The red haired woman softly smiled as she answered back. "I suppose I should have introduced myself the moment you saw me, but you attacked me before I even could…"

"Sorry about that…"

"Don't worry about it, but anyway I'm someone very familiar to Naruto, in fact you say that I'm family, but enough with keeping you in the dark, I'm Kushina Uzumaki, wife of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze and mother to Naruto Uzumaki. You're Sakura Haruno or should I say Uzumaki since your married to my son now?"

Sakura was shocked beyond words at Kushina introducing herself. She didn't think Naruto actually had parents, but here in front of her now was Naruto's mom, talking to her. It took Sakura a few moments to get over her initial shock, but once she did she could see the similarities between Kushina and Naruto. The way the both of them carried themselves in conversations, the facial structure, but most of all the way they smiled. Sakura decided to forget about comparing mother and son right now as she wondered exactly what Kushina wanted.

"I'm don't want to sound rude again Kushina, but what exactly do you want from me?" Sakura asked.

"I sensed that you were having trouble and decided to help you out that's all." Kushina responded.

"How exactly can someone who's dead communicate with the living?"

Kushina smiled as she took a seat on the ground and ushered Sakura over to join her. "It's quite simple really… in times of need especially in Uzumakis I have the ability to project myself into their minds."

Before answering Kushina back Sakura thought a bit about her answer since she wasn't exactly an Uzumaki and only married into the family, but she didn't let it bother her too much as she finally answered back. "I see, but I'm not exactly sure if you can help me with my current situation Kushina."

Kushina could see the sadness in Sakura's eyes as she gently squeezed her shoulder hoping to reassure her. "Of course I can Sakura! I maybe dead, but as your mother in law it's my duty to help you out the best I can!"

Sakura saw the determined looked in Kushina's eyes and softly smiled at her. "Thanks Kushina…"

"Don't mention it Sakura and I've been through the same situation you have."

"What do you mean?"

"I felt the same way you did when I was pregnant with Naruto. I had the same fears and doubts you did about being married to Minato and actually thinking if it was a good idea if Naruto was born, but then I realized that no manner what I wasn't alone in the situation. Minato was just as scared as I was and together we overcame those doubts and fears. Don't let them get to you Sakura. You've been given a chance to give Naruto something he's been denied all his life, a family..."

Sakura gasped as she remembered Naruto mentioning that he was excited about her being pregnant and finally being able to start a family with her. She wasn't getting in his way of becoming Hokage, she was part of it and she could see that now thanks in part to Kushina's speech and Naruto telling her on multiple occasions. Sakura softly smiled as she continued listening to Kushina's words.

"I know you're only eighteen Sakura and considered young too be pregnant, but just think, this gives you a head start on repopulating the Uzumaki clan and living a wonderful life with my son." Kushina smirked.

Sakura blushed lightly red at Kushina's words as she laid a hand on her stomach. "You're right Kushina. I shouldn't doubt myself about being married to Naruto or being pregnant. I should be happy since I really couldn't think of being without that blonde idiot. He's everything to me and I'll cherish that fact."

Kushina smiled once again at Sakura as she got up and helped Sakura to her feet. "I'm glad to hear that Sakura. I knew my son made the right choice in choosing you. You're worthy of the Uzumaki name!"

"Thanks Kushina and I'm glad to know I have great mother in law that helped me out despite being dead." Sakura responded with a smile.

Kushina cried a bit as she happily pulled Sakura into a hug and much to Sakura's surprised started to dissipate into nothing. "I'm sorry Sakura, but I can't stay here any longer. I've used up what chakra I can spare and I must return to Naruto's mind now. I hope we can talk again someday!"

Sakura sadly smiled as the last of Kushina's chakra dissipated leaving her alone. "I hope we can too Kushina."


	6. First Love

It was another typical day in Konoha, peace and quiet until a rather loud voice broke that silence. The villagers turned their heads to see a bright red haired teenager walking with two other people talking about something and it wasn't exactly a secret as she blurted out how excited she was to finish another mission. The one person that use to be this loud was one Naruto Uzumaki, but now he was Hokage and had matured much to the villagers delight.

The person responsible for talking so loud was none other than his daughter Haruka Uzumaki. She was now sixteen years old and a full pledged shinobi, a chunin to be exact. She had inherited her father's smash style of fighting and his loudness and those that made fun of her especially her red hair soon found out why she was called the second coming of _The Bloody Habanero_.

Haruka wasn't exactly proud of the nickname she had earned, but part of her enjoyed being feared by peers her age especially since she was The Hokage's daughter and yet despite her infamy Haruka had developed a close relationship with her teammates and considered them like a second family, one she could be proud of. Like she said, her team had just finished a B ranked mission and now they were out celebrating. Haruka's teammates weren't exactly excited by all the attention she was gather for them, so one of her teammates decided to leave saying he had to go take care of something and that left Haruka's other teammate, Haji.

He was a rather quiet individual, but one of the best shinobi in their generation besides Haruka and being alone with her made him feel a bit embraced, but not because she was being loud, but because Haji had quite the crush on Haruka. In a way you could say his love for Haruka mirrored Naruto's love for Sakura as he loved Haruka's bright red hair and her firecracker personality, but he was just too much of a chicken to admit it to her. He felt like sneaking away from Haruka as he figured she probably wouldn't notice, but much to his shock Haruka had stopped him from doing so as she looked at him with her striking blue eyes. "Just where do you think you're going Haji?"

Haji gulped a bit as he stuttered out his words. "I uh… I was just about to leave that's all… I'm sure you don't need me here interrupting your celebration Haruka."

Haruka glared at Haji and he was sure she was going to hit him as he closed his eyes in fear, but he didn't feel anything as he opened his eyes slowly and saw Haruka looking at him confused. "What's wrong with you Haji? You're always acting like this whenever you're around me. Is it something genetic in your family or something?"

"Uh… no it's just… I think that mission might have taken more out of me than I thought. Perhaps its best if I head home and get some sleep! Yeah that's it! I just need some sleep! I'll see ya in the morning Haruka!" Haji said with a nervous smile as he tried to get away, but he found himself going nowhere as Haruka held steadfast to his shirt and gave him puppy eyes, enough to send his heart into overdrive.

"Why would you leave me here alone Haji-kun with all these mean looking villagers? You know a girl like me needs someone strong like you to protect me while I walk home." Haruka said in her sweetest voice.

If it weren't for the villagers Haji might have passed out right then and there, but he held himself together as he responded. "Why would you need me to walk you home Haruka? I thought you always liked walking home by yourself?"

"I do, but for some reason I feel like having some company tag along so I don't get bored." Haruka said with a smile.

Haji wasn't about to let this opportunity pass him up as he softly smiled at Haruka. "Sure I'll accompany you home Haruka. My parents aren't expecting me back anytime soon since I did tell them this was going to be a long mission."

Haruka returned the smile as the both of them headed off towards her house. They both talked about other things besides their missions and Haji was quite surprised by how comfortable he felt being this close to Haruka. Perhaps it was all in his mind, the fear of being this close to her, but he still had to fear her parents since they were two of the most powerful shinobi in Konoha and Fire Country for that manner. Things were going well until they passed by the Academy. There was a group of guys probably a few years older than Haji and Haruka standing at the entrance to the Academy having a conversation. They ignored them thinking of them as nothing until one of the men grabbed Haruka by her hand.

"Hey there sweet stuff! You look awfully pretty! How about you say you and me get to know each other better?" the man said suggestively.

"No, thanks! You're not my type of guy and besides my father told me to avoid creeps like you." Haruka said in a digested tone.

She shoved the man's hand off of her and started walking back home until two of the other men grabbed her and stopped Haruka in her tracks. "I don't think so missy. No one disses our boss like that and gets away with it!"

"You better let her go you jerks!" Haji yelled out as the men turned their attention to him.

"What are you gonna do to us small fry? Make us beg for mercy?" one of the men responded.

"I'm gonna do more than that! I'm gonna make you pay for touching her!" Haji then withdrew a kunai as lunged at one of the men, but he was too slow as the man easily dodged his attack and kneed him square in the stomach making Haji cough up some blood.

"Haji no!" Haruka screamed.

Haji tried to regain his footing, but the man wouldn't let him as he drove his knee into Haji's stomach again and again until he was gasping for air. The man just smirked as he drew his fist back and delivered one final blow to Haji's face effectively knocking him out. He then turned his attention back to Haruka who was frightened and angered at the same time.

The leader smirked as he gently grabbed some of Haruka's hair and smelled it. "You sure do have nice hair girly… I wonder where you get it from?"

Haruka gave the leader a dirty expression as she answered back. "That's none of your business you jerk!" She tried to struggle free from the other men's grasp, but they held her tightly. "I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to my friend!"

"Oh and how do you plan to do that?" the leader asked.

Haruka smirked a bit as she answered back. "By doing this!""

The leader of the group suddenly found himself on the ground in pain as he realized Haruka had kicked him square in the crown jewels. It hurt like hell and he wasn't too happy as he barely got out his next sentence. "Hold… that bitch down… I'm gonna make her pay!"

He got up slowly and held his cash and prizes for the time begin as he withdrew a kunai and put it right up to Haruka's neck. "Not so funny now huh, bitch?"

Haruka closed her eyes as the kunai got closer and closer to her neck, but suddenly she felt the kunai no longer on her neck and heard it clank to the ground. The men holding her seemed to release their grip on her and the next thing Haruka knew she was in someone's arms being held bridal style. She opened her eyes slowly and saw a mess of blonde hair smiling down at her.

"I thought you could use a hand."

Haruka's eyes lightened up as she hugged her savior. "Dad!"

Naruto smiled at Haruka as he put her down and surveyed the beating he gave to each of the men. "I just happened to be in the neighbor and when I saw those bastards handling you like that I couldn't help myself and beat them to a pulp. They'll survive, but I don't think we'll have to worry about them for a little while or at least bugging you Haruka."

Naruto was expecting a response, but he turned around to see that Haruka had rushed over to Haji's beaten body and was currently holding him in her lap crying her eyes out. "Come on Haji! You have to wake up!"

Seeing her actions Naruto couldn't help but let a smile cross his face as it reminded him so much of when Sakura did the same thing and cried whenever he was severely hurt. _"I may not want to admit it, but I think my little girl is falling in love. Her red thread has lead her to someone that truly cares for her and I've seen it with my own two eyes. Haji may have not noticed, but I've been watching him over the years. He's definitely got a crush on my daughter from the way he looked at her and how he was one of the few people that never made fun of Haruka for her red hair. It will take time for them to realize their feelings for each other, but I'd rather have stay that way… we don't need her getting pregnant at such a young age."_

Naruto then walked up to Haruka and gently squeezed her shoulder as she looked up at him with tear stained eyes. "Don't worry Haruka. If we take him home I'm sure your mother will be able to heal his wounds no problem."

Haruka nodded as she wiped the tears from her face and gently put Haji on her back as they headed back home.

**XxXxXxXx**

Haji awoke with a headache as he opened his eyes to see where he was. He didn't exactly know where he was as the last thing he remembered was being beaten up by someone. He looked at himself and saw that his wounds were somehow healed. It was then a voice spoke up to him catching him off guard. "You're finally awake Haji!"

Haji turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw Haruka looking at him with a smile. "You were bruised pretty badly, but my mom was able to heal you up no problem."

"I guess I should thank her…" Haji said as he tried to get up, but he felt dizzy and stumbled backwards. Haruka reacted right away as she grabbed him and prevented him from falling on the ground, but the both of them ended up falling down on the couch in an awkward position and once they noticed, they both blushed a light red as Haruka immediately got up. "I think I better go get my mom… she's better at this healing stuff than I am."

Haji sheepishly starched the back of his head as he watched Haruka disappear into another part of her house, but he wasn't alone for too long as Naruto appeared before him with a smile. "Hey there Haji, how ya feeling?"

"I'm doing great Hokage-sama! Your wife's medical knowledge is amazing since I didn't think anyone could heal someone that fast." Haji stuttered out.

"You don't need to be so formal when we're at home Haji, I hate that formal crap anyway." Naruto said.

"If you say so err… Mr. Uzumaki."

Naruto laughed a bit as he took a seat near Haji and wrapped one of his arms around him. "I heard from Haruka that you tried to protect her, but those goons got the jump on you. I appreciate it Haji and it shows how much you care for her…"

Haji blushed red as he tried to deny having any feelings for Haruka. "I don't know what you're talking about Mr. Uzumaki. I was only doing what any shinobi of Konoha would do."

"You can't hide it from me Haji. I know you have feelings for my daughter. I've seen the way you look at her, the respect and the admiration. I use to do the same thing with my wife before we were married."

"You did?" Haji asked.

"Of course, but my only problem was that I was thick headed and thought she loved another guy for so long, but after certain events I came to realize that she did indeed love me and the rest is history. I may not know what Haruka thinks of you, but after seeing her cradling you in her lap, I can say that she does have feelings for you, but doesn't realize them just yet." Naruto said.

Haji's heart skipped at beat after hearing what Naruto said about Haruka holding him in her lap. She did indeed maybe like him, but he wasn't going to push his luck as he smiled. "Well, I'm not going to push Haruka to like me. I'll be patient and see what happens."

"That's what I like to hear Haji. I don't want to be forced to remove your reason for being a man if you tried anything on my daughter." Naruto said as he got up and patted Haji on the back who was now left with a horrified expression on his face.


	7. Lost Memories

"I have to do this Sakura-chan… I'm the only one that can stop him." Naruto quietly said as he looked off in the distance towards The Valley Of The End. It was nearing the end for The Fourth Shinobi War and now there was only one fight left, the battle between brothers and former teammates. Naruto had hoped to avoid this fight, but there was no getting around it. Sasuke was set on his path of destruction and Naruto was the only one that could stop him. He was making his way towards their predetermined battle ground when he was stopped by Sakura.

She had a sense of urgency on her face that told Naruto he didn't have to do this, but his words were reassuring. He needed to do this, not only for himself, but the rest of the shinobi world. Sakura held her head down in shame as she spoke up to Naruto. "I know you're the only one that can stop him Naruto, but does that mean you have to die with Sasuke? Isn't there any other way?"

Naruto could tell Sakura's voice was starting to crack despite her calm demeanor. He could only pull her into a reassuring hug as he responded. "I wish there was another way Sakura-chan, but if it means stopping Sasuke, then I'll die with him. I can at least go knowing my actions saved the world and I'll always be remembered for that."

Sakura wanted to punch Naruto and drag him back to her tent so he couldn't run off and play hero. She always felt insignificant next to her teammates and after their confrontation in Iron Country Sakura knew there was no way she could ever catch up to Naruto and Sasuke. She accepted the fact that she would always be behind them, but she hated playing second string to them. She wanted to help out, but as always Naruto was very convincing in his words. She just prayed that both of them would make it back in one piece.

Sakura wasn't sure what it was, but maybe the stress of this war finally caught up to her as she hugged Naruto tighter and cried into his shoulder. "You idiot! You better comeback to be alive! I don't know what I'd do without you…"

Naruto smiled at Sakura's words as he softly kissed Sakura on the forehead making her slightly blush. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, I will!"

Not giving Sakura a chance to react Naruto broke off their hug and gave Sakura one last smile as he disappeared into the distance knowing what would await him once he reached his destination. Sakura on the other hand was quite shocked at Naruto's actions. Why would he kiss her forehead? He'd never usually do something like that unless it was just his way of saying goodbye, but something about the kiss seemed off.

Sakura remembered back a few years ago when Sasuke tried the same thing, but instead she was going to kiss him on the lips. He seemed to freeze up at the last moment and ran off and he appeared a few minutes later dawning his usual look. What was the sudden change in attitude? It always bugged Sakura and now that Naruto had kissed her on the forehead it brought those memories up again.

The way Sasuke was acting around her was too nice even for him and the way he complemented her was not like him. Sakura finally realized that after all these years it wasn't Sasuke that had said those words to her, but Naruto. The mannerisms matched him perfectly and the way he kissed her forehead only solidified it even further. It was quite a shock to Sakura, but for some reason she was glad. Once Naruto got back she would have a long talk with him about their feelings towards each other and finally make him understand exactly what she felt.

**XxXxXxXx**

The battle between Naruto and Sakura raged on as neither one of them was able to get a foothold or gain an advantage. Each time they used a justu or something they'd counter each other perfectly and it was only a matter of time before the both of them ran out of chakra. Naruto unfortunately was the first to run out of chakra as his nine tails cloak disappeared leaving him open to Sasuke's assault and he didn't go easy on Naruto as he delivered punch after punch until he was bloody and bruised.

Sasuke knocked Naruto to the ground as he pleaded with him to stop. "Please Sasuke… stop! I don't want to hurt you anymore!"

But Naruto's pleas went unanswered as Sasuke kicked him square in the gut knocking what wind he had out of him. He now stood above Naruto the victor. Sasuke thought about leaving Naruto alone, but his pride got the better of him as he smirked at Naruto and picked him up by the collar of his jacket.

"You were a worthy foe Naruto, but its time I take my revenge out on Konoha by starting with you!" Sasuke said as he withdrew his kusanagi blade and electricity started flowing through it. Naruto couldn't say anything, but his eyes told Sasuke to stop and think about what he was doing. He didn't listen as he drove the kusanagi blade into Naruto's stomach or so he thought.

Both Naruto and Sasuke were shocked to see someone else standing between them. It was Sakura and she had absorbed the full force of the chidori enhanced blade. Tears began to well up in Naruto's eyes as blood seeped out of Sakura's mouth and onto the ground. Sasuke seemed rather remorseless as he withdrew the kusanagi blade from Sakura's stomach and tried again for Naruto, but he was surprised when the blade was stopped midway. He looked up to see that Naruto had somehow regained some chakra and he was in sage mode as he shoved a rasengan straight into Sasuke's stomach which sent him reeling into a stone knocking him out cold.

Naruto rushed over to Sakura's side and gently picked her up as he began to cry. "Please Sakura-chan, say something to me!"

Unfortunately Naruto didn't get a chance to know wherever Sakura was okay as his own injuries and exhaustion finally caught up to him and made him black out with Sakura wrapped tightly in his arms.

**XxXxXxXx**

Naruto awoke sometime later with a dull ache and judging from the white walls he figured he was in the hospital. He was about to get out of his bed when the door to his room opened and in walked Tsunade who seemed rather relieved that he was awake.

"Thank goodness you're finally awake Naruto. We didn't think you'd wake up anytime soon due to your injuries." Tsunade said as she gave Naruto a hug.

Naruto returned the hug as he smirked a bit. "Well, you know me Baa-chan, you can injure me, but I'll always get back up."

Naruto and Tsunade had a good laugh until Naruto's face turned more serious. "Now that I'm awake I need to know something Baa-chan…"

Tsunade nodded her head as she responded. "If you're wondering about Sasuke, he's been taken to ANBU Black Op headquarters to recover and once he does he'll face trial for what crimes he's done, but that won't be for a while."

"That's good to hear, but what about Sakura-chan?"

Tsunade was hesitant at first, but Naruto had a right to know about his teammate. "Sakura has recovered and she's actually in the next room-" She didn't have a chance to finish her sentence as Naruto quickly got out of his bed and ran towards Sakura's room.

Naruto eagerly opened the door to Sakura's room and there she was, wide awake. She seemed to notice Naruto's presence as he smiled at her and was about to greet her when Sakura shocked him by her next words. "Who are you and why are you in my room?"

"Huh? What are you talking about Sakura-chan? It's me Naruto! I came too see how you were doing." Naruto said in a surprised tone.

Sakura looked at him confused for a moment before answering back. "Naruto? It can't be… you look too old unless this is some sort of genjustu Kakashi-sensei put on us as part of our training."

Naruto couldn't believe his ears. Was Sakura actually saying these things to him or was he caught in some sort of genjustu? He had to figure it out fast as he walked up to Sakura and put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you playing some sort of game on me Sakura-chan because it's not funny!"

Sakura didn't like the way Naruto was touching her and much like her earlier years she punched him as the force from the blow loosened his grip. Naruto could see that Sakura was mad at him as she spoke up to him. "Don't touch me you creep! Even if you are Naruto, I'd never let that idiot touch me! Now get out of here before I call the nurses on you!"

"But Sakura-chan-"

"I said get out!"

What got into Sakura? Was she mad at him for taking that blow? No, it couldn't be… there had to be some other motivate behind her sudden change in mood. Naruto walked back into his hospital room to see that Tsunade was still standing there as she greeted him. "I see you went to check in on Sakura right?"

Naruto sighed a bit as he sat back down on his bed. "Yeah I did, but I wasn't expecting her to do that to me. I mean she hasn't hit me in so long… it feels like she's gone back to being her twelve year old self again."

"That's exactly what happened."

"Huh? What do you mean Baa-chan?"

"I don't know how to tell you this Naruto, but it seems as though after absorbing that hit from Sasuke's kusanagi blade, the force of the blow and how much electricity traveled through her body short circuited some of her memories. She's lost a portion of her memory. Sakura can only remember things up until she was twelve years old. That's why she reacted to you the way she did." Tsunade said.

"That can't be… Sakura-chan can't lose her memories, it's impossible." Naruto quietly said as tears started to well up in his eyes.

Tsunade hugged Naruto hoping to provide some comfort as she answered back. "I'm afraid so Naruto… I don't know how extensive the damage is, but from what I've gathered so far, it could be months or even years before Sakura recovers her memories or worse… she won't recover them at all."

Naruto couldn't believe what was happening. This had to be some sort of joke or maybe it was a genjustu that Sasuke had stuck him in, but it was the cold harsh reality he had to face. The woman he loved had lost part of her memory and there was nothing he could do about it. Only time would tell if she could recover her memories. For the moment he enjoyed the comfort Tsunade was giving him as he cried into her shoulder letting out all his frustration and anger.

**XxXxXxXx**

Naruto was released from the hospital a few days later while Sakura remained in the hospital as her condition prevented her from leaving. Tsunade felt as though it would be best to keep Sakura in the hospital until she was ready to face the outside world again or until she acknowledged that she wasn't in a genjustu. Naruto didn't know what to do, he was at a loss. He should have been celebrating with his friends on his victory over Sasuke and finally confessing to Sakura about how he felt, but that had been stripped away thanks to Sasuke.

He wanted to blame Sasuke for what happened, but it really wasn't his fault. Naruto had found out from Ino that Sakura had made the choice of following him and watching their fight and at the last second before Sasuke delivered that fatal blow she stepped in to take it for him. Ino also commented on how much Sakura's feelings for him had changed and how much she respected him. She told him to take his time in pursuing Sakura and perhaps one day she would regain her memories. Naruto even begged Ino to use her mind justu to see if she could jog Sakura's memories, but Ino told him she couldn't as it might have caused her even more damage.

After thinking about the fight once again Naruto suddenly got an idea. It sounded crazy, but it might just work as he smiled for the first time in weeks. It didn't take him long to reach Hokage Tower as he knocked on the door leading into the office. He entered the office and saw that Tsunade was actually doing some paperwork for once.

"Hey Baa-chan…" Naruto said softly as he smiled at her.

"Naruto, I'm surprised to see you here. I thought for sure you'd be training or bugging me about seeing Sakura." Tsunade said.

"Well, it does pertain to Sakura…" Naruto began.

"Naruto you know the rules. I'm not allowing Sakura any visitors because of her condition, especially you." Tsunade stated.

"I know, but please hear me out on this…"

Tsunade was never one listen, but coming from Naruto she usually made an expectation as she nodded her head for Naruto to continue. "I've been thinking about how to jog Sakura's memory without harming her. What if I took her back to The Valley Of The End where Sasuke and I fought? I know she wasn't conscious when she was taken out of there, but perhaps something there could jog her memory? What do you say Baa-chan?"

Tsunade thought about Naruto's request and although she was against it, Naruto did bring up a few good points and besides she was never one to deny a request especially from him. She softly smiled as she answered back. "I'll give you one chance Naruto, but if it doesn't help her I want you to bring her back, understand?"

Naruto happily smiled as he jumped the desk and squeezed Tsunade into a hug. "You're the best Baa-chan and I promise, I'll only do this once!"

**XxXxXxXx**

Naruto lead Sakura through the trees as they neared their destination. He hoped this would work and restore Sakura's memories and if it didn't he'd wouldn't know what to do. For now he focused on the task at hand as Sakura seemed to be getting irritated. "Where exactly are we going? Hokage-sama told us we had a mission. I didn't think it involved having to walk so far!"

"Don't worry Sakura-chan we're almost there." Naruto said.

A few moments later they reached their destination and it was rather ominous coming back to the same location where their final battle took place. Naruto threw his backpack to the ground and looked back at Sakura. "We're finally here Sakura-chan. You can take a break if you want."

Sakura seemed happy as she took off her backpack and started eating a snack while Naruto further explored the valley hoping to pinpoint exactly where they had fought. It wasn't too hard to locate as the multiple downed trees and holes in the ground stuck out like a sore thumb. Naruto sighed as he spoke up to Sakura once again. "Hey Sakura-chan, why don't you come here for a second."

"What is it Naruto?" Sakura asked as she joined Naruto.

"You see this? It's where a great battle took place. A battle between friends turned bitter enemies." Naruto stated.

Something in Sakura's mind registered the friends turned enemies and something about the battlefield seemed familiar, but her current mindset didn't think much of it as she responded. "It must have been quite a battle judging from the number of trees that were broken and how the ground looks uneven."

Naruto figured mentioning the fight wouldn't jog her memory that easily, but he pressed on. "Yes, it was quite the battle and it would have ended in the death of someone if not for the intervention of another."

That statement also made Sakura think a bit and Naruto could tell something was going on in her mind. He just hoped it was her remembering what exactly happened, but much to his dismay Sakura just turned to him and smiled. "That seems like quite the story Naruto, but we need to get back to our mission or else Hokage-sama will be mad at us." Sakura said cheerfully as she began to walk away, but to her surprise she was stopped as Naruto held onto her arm. "Naruto what are you doing? Let me go!"

But Naruto wouldn't let go as he looked at Sakura with sadness, tears threatening to spill out as he spoke. "You don't remember anything Sakura-chan? Is your memory that far damaged that you can't remember being here?"

Sakura was shocked as Naruto suddenly pulled her into a hug and began to cry. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan… I should have taken that blade to the stomach, not you."

Naruto pulled her in closer as he continued to talk. "You're without some of your memories and there's nothing I can do to help you remember… I just wish you could."

While he was crying some of his tears managed to drip on Sakura's face and she would have wiped them off, but Naruto's hugging prevented her from doing so and while she was being held there was something familiar about it, the way he was cry and how he kept apologizing for not being the one to take this so called blade to the stomach. Her mind began to remember certain things and it was fuzzy at best. She interrupted her own train of thought since she wanted Naruto to let her go as it was awkward being like this.

She tried to fight against Naruto's hold, but he held onto her and much to her surprise he kissed her on the forehead. She immediately stopped fighting against Naruto as she blushed brightly red and looked into his eyes. He was still crying, but he seemed to cheer up as if maybe this forehead kiss was all she needed.

Sakura remembered what happened on the bench that night since in her mindset it had only happened a few months again, but suddenly her mind began to race with many thoughts including those to due with the person in front of her. It all came back to Sakura, the battle between Naruto and Sasuke, her getting stabbed for Naruto, and him kissing her forehead before leaving.

Naruto figured it wasn't his best plan, but he was desperate enough to try anything and when Sakura didn't react he held his head down in shame and finally released Sakura. He tried his best to make her remember what happened, but it seemed as though her memories of her life now would go forever locked away. He started walking away, but he was surprised when Sakura grabbed his hand and pulled him back. She seemed to be smiling at Naruto as he wondered what was going on and to his surprise Sakura pulled him into a kiss. They held it for a few moments until the need for air arose.

Naruto looked at Sakura confused as he spoke. "Sakura-chan?"

Sakura on the other hand smiled at Naruto as she gently squeezed his hand. "I remember Naruto..."

Naruto was shocked beyond words and began to cry again, but this time out of happiness as he tried to response, but Sakura interrupted him as she kissed him once again. He wanted to question why Sakura was kissing him, but in the back of his mind he knew why and he wasn't about to ruin this moment between them since he was glad to have his Sakura-chan back.


	8. Spar

Naruto Uzumaki was currently deep in thought. It had only been a few days since he defeated Pain and became a hero to everyone in the village. He should have been celebrating with everyone since he defeated one of the most powerful members of Akatsuki, but he wasn't. He withdrew himself from everyone and decided to think about a few things that were on his mind, namely Sasuke. Naruto thought he now had the power to go after Sasuke and rescue him, but after finding out from a few Lightning-nin that he was responsible for kidnapping Killer Bee, the eight tails, it drove Naruto into a deep depression, one that he didn't want to bother anyone with.

He thought maybe if he remained at Team Seven's old training ground and tried to master his sage mode more, he could make the Raikage forgive Sasuke and finally deliver on his promise to Sakura. The mention of her always brought up a lot of thoughts in Naruto's head, some he'd like to forget and others he'd like to make a reality. He saw the horrified expression on Sakura's face when the Lightning-nin mentioned what Sasuke did. Naruto felt his heart sting as Sakura began to cry at the mention of Sasuke's ill deeds and he figured he was the cause of this anguish, so that's why he decided to remain hidden here and once he felt confident enough, Naruto would go after Sasuke and finally bring him back even if it killed him.

Even though he was deep in concentration Naruto could now sense any tiny amount of chakra thanks to his sage training and he thought he felt a chakra signature approach the training grounds, but it suddenly disappeared. Naruto wasn't dumb thought as he opened his eyes and scanned the area to see if anyone was there. He did this for a few moments until his eyes fixed themselves on the large wooden pole that was in the middle of the training ground. He spoke up knowing how it was and a few moments later the person appeared before him.

It was Sakura and she was garbed in her outfit and not her civilian clothes. Naruto wondered why she was here and dressed in her uniform, but the moment he looked into her eyes he could clearly see that something was different about her. She seemed serious, but despite that she still held onto the same caring look she was known for. Naruto was unsure of what to do or say so he just smiled at her and got up as he didn't want to confront her right now.

He turned to leave and just as he walked past Sakura she threw a punch at him which he was barely able to block. Naruto quickly turned around and saw that Sakura's serious expression had hardened and he quickly realized that she wanted to fight. He was so naive around her sometimes? Why could he never decipher some of her facial expressions? He was able to dodge most of Sakura's attacks thanks to his sage training, but why all of a sudden did Sakura want to fight? Was something bugging her or was she just here to test his training?

He didn't exactly want to fight Sakura let alone hurt her as he dodged another one of her punches and much to Sakura's surprise grabbed her hand mid-punch as he gently shoved her to the ground hoping it would be enough to subdue her, but Sakura wasn't done as she instantly got up and connected with her next attack which send Naruto crashing into the ground.

It wasn't easy to shake off one of Sakura's punches as they hurt like hell and just when it looked like Sakura was about to punch Naruto even further into the ground she stopped. Naruto wondered why and he didn't have to wait for an answer as Sakura dropped to her knees and to his surprise hugged him.

He could feel wetness on his shoulder and knew Sakura was crying, but exactly for what reason? Naruto knew he hadn't talked to her in a few days, but why would she care? He thought she was worried about Sasuke, but after pulling up her head from his shoulder in order to comfort her he could see that Sakura was indeed worried about him, her eyes said it all.

He felt ashamed for abandoning Sakura and not talking to her for days. It was probably the reason why she came looking for him and why she was dressed in her battle gear. She wanted to let him know how much it hurt her and the best way to let Naruto know was by having a spar, but even then Sakura couldn't go through with hurting him. They were both hurt in their own ways and right now they needed each other.

Naruto offered Sakura some solace by pulling her into a hug and allowing her to cry into his shoulder once again. He held onto her tight and hoped this would prove some comfort for her. He let a few tears escape his eyes as he whispered something into her ear. _"I didn't mean to..."_


	9. Vacation

Sakura Haruno walked through the rebuilt streets of Konoha. She was on her way to meet her boyfriend Naruto Uzumaki. It had been two months since the end of the Fourth Shinobi War and everyone had been busy within those last two months. Sakura had been busy taking care of those injured after the war while Naruto was busy helping to rebuilt Konoha after Pain's attack. They hadn't been able too talk to each other a lot, but when they did both Naruto and Sakura were straight to the point.

They both confessed their feelings to each other after finally making sense of them and they became an official couple as the citizens of Konoha put it. They were happy together despite the work load and not being able to see each other expect for when they retired to their temporary home since both their apartments had been at the epicenter of Pain's destruction and needed a bit of addition time to rebuilt them.

Sakura was called into Tsunade's office this morning and she wondered exactly what her shishou wanted. She hoped it wasn't another boatload of patients as her chakra had nearly been drained and she had barely kept up in the last few days, but Sakura was surprised when Tsunade told her she didn't have to work for the week or the next. It turned out that Tsunade found out about Naruto and Sakura becoming a couple and she wanted them to have sometime alone so she gave them two weeks vacation away from Konoha to spend some quality time together.

Sakura was on her way to get Naruto since Tsunade had told him the same thing and part of her was a bit nervous going on this vacation with him, but another part of Sakura relished in the fact that she could finally spend sometime with Naruto and work out that frustration that had been building since they exactly couldn't do it when they were constantly bugged. She put those dirty thoughts to the back of her head as she heard a sudden yelp and turned to see a young girl in the middle of the street.

She was holding her leg in pain and from what Sakura gathered she seemed to have hurt herself chasing after someone. Immediately Sakura went into action as she walked up to the young girl bending down and gently smiled at her.

"Let me see what's wrong." Sakura softly said as the young girl nodded and uncovered her leg.

Thankfully it wasn't too bad as the girl had just skinned her leg slightly and there wasn't too much blood. Sakura made a few hand signs as one of her hands began to glow green.

"Now just hold still sweetheart as I heal your leg." Sakura said and the little girl complied as she removed her hand from her leg and let Sakura heal it. For a person of Sakura's skill it only took a few seconds to fully heal her leg and once she was done she smiled at the girl.

"All better now?" Sakura asked.

"Much better!" the little girl said as she got up and started running after her friend who seemed to be waiting for her. She smiled at Sakura and waved to her. "Thanks Haruno-san! You're the best!"

Sakura blushed slighty red at the little girl's comment as she turned around to continue her way towards Naruto and her's temporary apartment, but she was stopped in her tracks by a familiar person. He smirked at her as he spoke up.

"That was a nice thing you did for her Sakura-chan." Naruto said.

"It wasn't much, but then again your influence could be rubbing off on me, so maybe that's why I helped her." Sakura siad with a laugh.

"I don't think so Sakura-chan. You're naturally a good caring person and besides with the way we're still recovering, any amount of help does help."

"I suppose you're right Naruto, but let's stop thinking about others for now and worry about that much needed vacation of ours!"

"Now you're talking Sakura-chan!" Naruto said.

Naruto and Sakura had a good chat as they made their way back to their apartment, but what kinda made their conversation a bit more interest was when Naruto brought up something interesting.

"Hey Sakura-chan, the way you took care of that little girl almost made me think you were her mother, in fact I think you'd make a great mother if we decided to have children."

Sakura blushed brightly red at the mention of child. She had really never thought about child especially at their young age, but thinking about it she did enjoy child and maybe one day she would have a child herself. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her head as she coyly smiled at Naruto and grabbed his hand.

"If you're so keen on having children Naruto maybe we should start when we go on vacation. What do you say?"

Naruto couldn't say anything as he blushed red at Sakura's bold statement and all she could do was laugh at his response. They would definitely have a great vacation together.


	10. Confession

Naruto knew it would come to this. After rescuing Sasuke and finally delivering on his promise to Sakura he could finally see that she was happy. The way she hugged Sasuke as he stood their with a forced smiled on his face tore at his heart, but he wouldn't allow himself to cry, not in front of Sakura or Sasuke. He turned around and left his teammates to their own devices and hoped they would have a happy life together.

Naruto wasn't sure what he'd do now with his life, but perhaps following in Jiraiya's footsteps visiting villages and people sounded like a good idea. In the morning he would go to Tsunade and ask her if he could leave the village for an undetermined amount of time. He wasn't sure, but long enough to allow Sasuke and Sakura to have sometime together and possibly forget about him. That night Naruto cried like he had never done before and eventually fell asleep.

He woke up the next morning to the sound of his door being knocked on and he wondered who exactly it was as he slowly opened the door. It was the person he least expected to see, Sakura and she didn't look happy. Naruto didn't know what to say and moved to the side to allow Sakura in since he could tell she wanted to talk.

He guessed it had something to do with Sasuke and the reason for her being mad was based on the fact that he had to injury Sasuke slightly to bring him back, but he was surprised when Sakura spoke up.

"Why did you avoid me yesterday?" Sakura asked.

Naruto could see Sakura's expression change to sadness as she seemed ready to cry. He had to think of something fast as he answered back. "I wasn't avoiding you Sakura-chan... I just figured you wanted some alone time with Sasuke."

Naruto's answer didn't seem to work as Sakura began to cry and much to his surprise she embraced him in a hug. "You idiot! I didn't want to spend time with just him, I wanted to spend sometime with you too!"

Naruto was shocked by Sakura's words, but figured she was just acting this way because he left like she said. He returned the hug and hoped it would calm her down.

"You looked so happy with him Sakura-chan... I figured I wasn't needed, so that's why I left." Naruto said hesitantly.

Naruto could feel Sakura's grip tighten on his shirt as she looked up at him with tear stained eyes. "Even after all this time you still assume I'm the same twelve year old girl that's head over heels in love with Sasuke?" Sakura stated.

That sentence stung Naruto's heart a bit and he did his best to ignore Sakura's comment as he answered back. "I... I didn't assume that-"

Naruto didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Sakura interrupted him. "What about my confession to you in Iron Country Naruto? Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Sakura said as she cried even harder.

Sakura's confession to him in Iron Country was still fresh on his mind since it had only happened a few months ago and although he didn't want to believe her Sai had been the one to convince him that she was being honest with him. It was just he refused to see that Sakura had grown up and moved on from Sasuke, but seeing her so happy yesterday made him doubt those feelings again.

Now she was here in front of him crying her eyes out and he wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to confess his feelings to Sakura and tell her how much he loved her. He felt he didn't have the right too, not with Sasuke back, but if it helped cheer up Sakura he'd do it.

He softly smiled at Sakura as he tenderly kissed her on the forehead and before she could react he spoke up. "I don't believe I ever deserved your love Sakura-chan, but your confession in Iron Country made me think about my feelings for you and after seeing you act so happy around Sasuke I figured you were still in love with him. I doubted my feelings for you, but seeing you cry in front of me breaks my heart, so I don't care if you punch me for saying this, but I love you Sakura-chan! I always have since our genin days. I don't know what it is about being around you, but you make me feel complete and there's always a warm feeling inside of my heart-"

Naruto didn't finish his sentence once again as he found Sakura kissing him on the lips and he fully melted into the kiss too. They held it for a few moments before the need for air arose and they pulled back looking at each other. Sakura softly smiled at Naruto as she gently grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"It's about time you confessed you idiot."

Naruto could only smile at what Sakura said as he quickly kissed her on the lips once more before answering back. "I guess I was the stubborn one this time around Sakura-chan."

Sakura didn't response as she kissed Naruto on the lips once more, glad of their new found feelings for each other. She would have to thank Sasuke later as he was the mastermind behind this plan in getting them together.


	11. Déjà Vu

It was another peaceful day in Konoha as a blonde haired man in an orange and black robe strolled the streets, smiling at each passing child and village that did the same. It was hard to believe that almost four years ago Konoha had been thrown in chaos by Madara Uchiha, but thanks to the combined efforts of all the Konoha shinobi they were able to subdue him and restore peace to the village. A few months later in a ceremony was held from Naruto and he was named The Sixth Hokage of Konoha. He'd been the youngest Hokage ever at twenty-one years old and four years later he was still in power albeit a little help from Tsunade when things got hectic.

He wasn't out visiting the villagers like most of them had thought, in fact he was out of the office to stretch since he'd been cooped up in the office for the last few days doing paperwork and it was only by Tsunade's grace that he was finally able to get out. Naruto thought about visiting Ichiraku's for some ramen, but he wasn't hungry and it was still early in the morning. He actually felt like doing some training for old times sake since he figured all that paperwork might have made him weaker, but Naruto was always training. He just couldn't find the time to since everyone was always distracting him. He figured the best place to get some training in was Team Seven's old training grounds since no one ever showed up there, at least not on time that is.

It didn't take Naruto long to reach Team Seven's old training grounds since he remained the path to it and once he got there memories of his younger years started to flood his mind. He smiled remembering the days Sakura, Sasuke, and him trained with Kakashi to better themselves as shinobi. He let his mind wander for a moment longer until he decided that it was time to do a few warm ups.

"Seems a bit warmer than usual today… I think I'll take off my Hokage robe since I don't want it to get dirty. I know Sakura-chan would kill me if it got dirty." Naruto said as he removed his robe and gently put it aside on the grassy area of the training field. He was now left in his standard jounin outfit which he wore under his robe in a tribute of sorts to his father.

He felt more comfort now as he began to stretch and do a few warm up exercises before he moving onto some taijustu, granted he was never the best at it, but he had gotten better at it over the years. Naruto was doing well until he heard the rustling of bushes and immediately pulled out a kunai.

"Who's there?" Naruto asked, but there was no answer.

He held the kunai closer as the rustling of the bushes got louder until they suddenly stopped and without warning whatever was hiding in there made its presence known as it pounced on Naruto effectively pinning him to the ground and it childishly laughed at him, no make that two childish laughs. He looked up to see a mess of pinkish-blonde and red hair looking down at him and there was no need to second guess who they were.

"Minato? Haruka? What are you two doing here? I thought you were at home with your mother?" Naruto asked.

"We got bored of staying at home and decided to see what you were up too daddy." Haruka said as Minato and her got off of Naruto so he could stand up.

"Well, I wasn't in the office, so I take it that Baa-chan told you where I was?"

"No, she didn't tell us since she said you wanted some alone time, but it was mom who figured out where you were." Minato stated.

_"Figures… Sakura-chan can read me like a book, but then again I wouldn't expect any less from her." _Naruto said to himself with a slight blush before turning his attention back to his kids. "So I'm guessing you two didn't come here to watch me train as you have your sparring clothes on."

Minato nodded his head yes before answering back. "Haruka and I figured it's a good time to show you what we've learned since we usually don't get a chance too."

Haruka nodded to Minato and he did the same as the both of them got into they're fighting stances. Naruto moved out of their way as he didn't want to get caught up in their sparring match and once he moved out of the way Haruka and Minato went at it kicking and punching at each other dodging each other's blows and using the basic academy techniques to their fullest as Naruto watched on in awe.

_"I can't believe what I'm seeing… Minato and Haruka are fighting like they're already chunin level, but then again with Sakura and I training them when we can it's only natural that they're this good already." _Naruto said to himself as he continued to watch Minato and Haruka spar. It was only a manner of time before one of them tired out or messed up as Minato was able to connect with a quick right which knocked Haruka to the ground.

_"I figured Minato would win this spar since he's been in the academy for two years now while Haruka has yet to start, but if her perform today is anything, she'll do just fine once she enters later this year."_

Naruto watched as Minato helped his sister up and the both of them had a brief conversation before turning their attention back to Naruto who seemed quite pleased with their perform. He ruffled both their hair as he spoke up to them. "I've gotta say I'm quite impressed with both of you. That training you've done has really paid off, but don't think I'm not blind to your little game you two…" Naruto stated.

"What are you talking about daddy?" Haruka asked.

"I know you're using that sparring session as a means to try and cover up what you really want to do." Naruto said.

Minato looked toward Haruka and they both nodded at each other before responding. "I guess we can't hide our true intentions from you dad. We really did want to show you how much we've improved, but we also figured it was a good time to spar with you since we want revenge for last time." Minato stated.

"You mean those two months ago when I left the both of you tied to the logs in the middle of the training grounds?" Naruto asked.

"That's exactly what we're talking about! I know you're our father and all, but a good dad doesn't leave his eight year old son and five year old daughter tied to a log and expect them to get free! It took us nearly two hours to break free!" Minato yelled out.

Naruto smirked a bit before answering back. "What? I was only a few feet away from you."

"But you were eating in front of us! That was torture!" Minato said as he curled up his fist and shook it much like his mother had done when she was younger.

"We did eventually get to eat Minato, it wasn't so bad." Haruka stated.

"Easy for you to say… dad shared most of his food with you." Minato muttered to himself, but loud enough for Naruto and Haruka to hear.

Naruto didn't like how the conversation was going and needed a way to change the subject immediately and that's when an idea hit him. He smiled softly at both his kids while smirking inside his mind as he spoke. "Let's not dwell on past failures. That's in the past and you're much stronger now and that's what brings me to what I'm about to say."

Minato and Haruka's interest peaked as Naruto continued talking. "Since you've both shown how much stronger you've gotten and since you're obviously holding a grudge against me for what I did two months ago… how about this? You guys spar with me again and if you manage to tie me to the post in the middle of the training field I'll treat you to as much ramen as you guys like. What do you say?"

Minato and Haruka eyes lighted up at the mention of ramen and they shook their heads. "This should be easy since we're much stronger now!"

Naruto smirked as he took a few steps back and got into a fighting position. "Don't get too overconfident now kids, you're still facing off against one of the strongest shinobi in the world!"

Minato and Haruka took a few moments to talk to each other before facing their dad. "How are we gonna tie daddy to the post Minato? He's too fast for us and the last time we tried to keep up it he wore us out which allowed him to strike."

"We won't get caught in that trap again Haruka. In fact I have a plan," Minato said as he leaned in closer to Haruka's ear and whispered his plan to her.

They both nodded to each other taking up their fighting positions as the sparring match got underway much like two months ago. Naruto wasn't too concerned about what Minato and Haruka had talked about since he figured no matter what plan they came up with he would wear them out before it could be excited. He was almost caught off guard when Haruka attacked him first, but he easily dodged most of her attacks and when he tried to hit her, she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"A solid shadow clone? I'm surprised Haruka… I didn't think you could actually pull one off." Naruto said with happiness in his voice as he dodged another of Haruka's punches.

"Well, I did get a few pointers from mom on how to better use it!" Haruka responded as she appeared behind her father and tried to punch him, but he blocked the attack.

Minato finally decided to join in as he threw a fury of punch and kicks at his father, but each easily blocked by Naruto as he kept blocking hoping for an opening so he could put one of them out of the spar. Naruto wondered why Minato and Haruka kept up a frontal assault. He figured his kids were smarter than this, but then again maybe they were frustrated and figured the best plan of attack was head on and eventually they would get lucky and hit him.

The fighting wore on for thirty minutes and Naruto figured his kids had to be getting tired by now as he could sense their chakra growing weaker. He wanted to finish this now and blocked a few more attack before lightly punch Minato in the gut and he was surprised when he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"It was only a shadow clone?" Naruto exclaimed as the real Minato appeared before him ready to strike, but he did the exact opposite as he made a few hand signs reappeared before Naruto in something he didn't expect.

"Oiroke no justu!"

Minato was able to pull off one of Naruto's signature justu and the form he had chosen was that of his own mother, fully nude which shocked Naruto and it was the window of opportunity Minato and Haruka needed. Naruto was recovering from the shock of Minato using the oiroke no justu that he didn't realize he was now tied to the post in the middle of the training field. He looked to see that Minato was next to him while Haruka was on top of the post and the both of them were smiling at him.

"Looks like we win this time around dad!" Minato and Haruka said together.

Naruto couldn't help but smile at both his kids as they finally managed to tie him up albeit the questionable tactics, but then again it was something he would have done against a more powerful foe. Still he wondered how they exactly thought of this. "Well, I've got to hand it to you kids. You're as crafty and resource as I was around this age, but how did you exactly come up with this plan?"

"That would be my doing Naruto." a voice said and Naruto turned his attention to see a very familiar face, the one of his wife, Sakura.

"Sakura-chan? You're the one that came up with this plan?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I had some involvement in it, but it was mostly Minato and Haruka's doing. After their sparring session with you they came to me asking for my help. I decided to help them after Minato mentioned you tied them to the post here. We've been planning this for the last two months and it was the perfect plan. Minato and Haruka would catch you out of the office since I know you usually don't like to be in the office that much and get you to spar with them. Minato thought we needed to exploit one of your weaknesses and Haruka instantly thought of me. So I figured the best way to exploit your weakness was by using the oiroke no justu and as you can see it worked out perfectly. So how's it feel to be tied to the post Naruto?"

"It kinda feels like déjà vu…" Naruto responded with a laugh.

The other members of the Uzumaki also had a good laugh since Naruto had told them of his past and how he use to be tied to this post when he failed team exercises. Once they were done laughing Minato, Haruka, and Sakura started to walk away leaving Naruto still tied to the post. He figured it was just regular ropes as he tied to break them, but found they held him steadfast against the post.

"Hey! How about a little help getting me loose?"

Sakura turned around and smirked at Naruto before answering. "By the way, the ropes we used are chakra enhanced, so it's gonna take you a bit to break free of them Naruto."

Naruto figured it was no big deal since he kinda deserved it for doing the same to his kids, but his demeanor quickly changed when Sakura mentioned his favorite place to eat. "You have a nice time trying to get out of those ropes Naruto while the kids and I enjoy a nice lunch at Ichiraku's."

Naruto struggled even harder against the ropes trying to break them, but to no avail as his family continued walking without glance back to see how he was doing and tears began to stream down his face. "NOOOOOOOOO!"


	12. Meeting Sakura's Parents

"Naruto you can't keeping using that excuse..." Sakura said as she played with the tiny bundle in her arms before continuing. "Besides my parents have been wanting to meet you since we got married five months ago."

"Well, it's not my fault that I've been called out on missions, I really did want to meet them..." Naruto began, but he found himself interrupted by Sakura.

"Baka! You've been here the last five months! You're just using that excuse because you're scared of them right?" Sakura asked.

Truth be told Naruto was indeed scared of Sakura's parents. He had been lucky so far to avoid their wrath since during their wedding Sakura's parents were out of the village on a personal vacation. He didn't want to face them figuring they'd want his head for knocking up Sakura and putting her career as a kunoichi on hold.

Sooner or later he would have to face them and today would be that day since Sakura had finally recovered from giving birth to Haruka and now her parents wanted to see their granddaughter. Naruto sighed to himself as he spoke up.

"I suppose I have no choice in the matter right?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

Sakura nodded her head before answering back. "No, you don't and besides it's not like my mom and dad are going to kill you... they just want to meet their son-in-law."

It wasn't too long of a walk to Sakura's parents house since they didn't live too far from where Naruto and Sakura had purchased their new apartment after Haruka was born. Naruto's heart was going at an extreme rate as they approached the house and it almost red lined when Sakura gently knocked on the door.

A few moments later the door opened to reveal an older woman with blonde hair who looked nothing like Sakura and she smiled the moment she laid eyes on Haruka who was fast asleep in Sakura's arms.

"Sakura! It's good to see you and oh my... is that our granddaughter?" she asked with excitement.

Sakura softly smiled as she gently touched one of Haruka's cheek. "Yes, mom. This is your granddaughter, Haruka Uzumaki."

"Oh! She's just so cute!" Sakura's mom went on not noticing Naruto standing behind Sakura until he cleared his throat making her look up.

"You must be Naruto!" she said as she stopped playing with Haruka to look at Naruto. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Mebuki Haruno, but you can call me mom!"

Naruto seemed a bit shocked at Mebuki's positive attitude towards him, but perhaps Sakura was responsible for making her see that he just wasn't the container of the nine tails. He smiled back at Mebuki as he responded. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mebuki and I don't want to sound rude, but I think calling you mom would be an insult since we've just met and all."

Mebuki could only laugh at Naruto's response. "Nonsense Naruto! You're part of the family now, but I do appreciate your modesty. Anyway, let's stop standing outside here and go inside. I wanna spend some more time with my granddaughter!"

Naruto was pleasantly surprised by how things were going right now and hoped things would go smoothly with Sakura's father. They got inside the house and immediately Mebuki called out to the living room. "Kizashi get in here! Naruto and Sakura are here along with their daughter!"

Mumbling could be heard from the living room as footsteps approached the kitchen and a few moments later a man walked in with dark pink hair in the shape of a sakura blossom. Naruto didn't need to guess that this was Sakura's father, Kizashi.

He still wondered how Sakura got pink hair when neither of her parents looked like her, but he wasn't complaining as Kizashi spoke up. "Sakura! It's nice to see you once again and I see that you've brought your daughter along. Let me have a look at her!"

"_Why is everyone ignoring me in favor of Haruka?" _Naruto said to himself as he cleared his throat again hoping it would gain the attention of everyone and it seemed to work as Sakura, Mebuki, and Kizashi looked at him.

Naruto was uncertain of what to say as he spoke up nervously. "Hello there Mr. Haruno... I'm Naruto, Sakura's husband... it's a pleasure to meet you."

Naruto stuck out his hand and hoped Kizashi would shake it and much to his surprise he did as he smiled at him. "It's nice to finally meet you Naruto. We've been wanting to meet you for a while, but Sakura tells us you've been busy with missions and you finally got sometime off so you could visit us."

Naruto was beginning to sweat a bit as he cheerfully answered back. "Well, you know me... I gotta do what I can to support Sakura and Haruka."

Kizashi seemed to buy Naruto's excuse as he answered back. "Well, Sakura has told us many things about you Naruto and I'm glad to finally meet the man that stole my daughter's heart albeit knocking her up..."

Naruto's stomach started to churn as he figured this is where Kizashi would either beat him up or chew him out for what he did, but he was surprised when Kizashi spoke up. "Although I'm glad that you took responsibility for your actions and married my daughter. I don't think I could stand to see her unwed especially with a child at her age..."

Naruto began to sweat more as he answered back. "I'd never abandon Sakura-chan... she's the love of my life and I couldn't see myself without her."

"Interesting... how about we talk a walk Naruto so I can get to know you better?" Kizashi asked.

"Of course! I don't mind taking a walk! I'm sure Sakura-chan can find something to do right?" Naruto said as he looked back at Sakura who nodded in response.

"Mom's spending time with Haruka and I want to make sure she doesn't do any harm to her." Sakura said as she turned around to join her mother in the living room.

Kizashi watched as his daughter disappeared back into the living room and turned his attention back to Naruto. "Shall we get going then?"

Naruto nodded in response as the both of them left the house. Their walk was mostly in silence as Kizashi seemed to be leading Naruto somewhere and eventually they stopped in the park much to his surprise.

Kizashi took a seat on the nearest bench and motioned Naruto to join him. He cautiously sat down as Kizashi began to talk. "I'm sorry if I seemed a bit scary back at home Naruto, but I just put that on to impress my wife and daughter. You can never been to careful around woman especially when you want to show them that you're still the boss of the house."

Naruto was shocked by Kizashi's sudden change in attitude. He thought for sure Sakura's dad would be the one to riducle him the most, but here he was making a joke of how he acted. In a way he was acting like him. Naruto smiled a bit as Kizashi continued.

"Truth be told... I was furious when Sakura revealed to us that she was pregnant and that she was getting married to you. That's kinda why Mebuki and I left during your wedding, because we felt ashamed of her marrying you, but Sakura has a way with words..."

Kizashi softly smiled before continuing. "She cried her eyes out and convinced us you weren't as bad as most of the villagers made you out to be. In fact the turning point had to be when she mentioned you were Minato Namikaze's son. I use to know him actually."

"You knew my dad?" Naruto asked.

"Well, not personally, but from when we were able to talk he was the nicest man around. He was always willing to listen to us and what we had to say. He was perhaps the best Hokage we had despite his young age. I'm just sad that we lost him later than year when the Kyuubi attacked the village." Kizashi paused for a moment to reflect on the matter and he could see that Naruto was also saddened. He moved in closer to Naruto and patted him on the back. "Don't feel sad Naruto... you've always got us as your family." Kizashi said as he smiled at Naruto.

Naruto wiped away the stray tears from his face as he answered back. "Thanks Kizashi... that means a lot, especially coming from you."

Kizashi smiled once more as he got up from the bench and looked at Naruto. "Well, we better get going since we don't want to make our wives wait right?"

Naruto happily smiled as he joined Kizashi. "Yeah we better not keep them waiting. I don't want to know what would happen if we did."

Both Naruto and Kizashi shared a laugh as they began to walk back toward the house talking about trivial things and although they weren't related to Naruto, he didn't care. They were still family in his mind.


	13. Pregnant

Sakura Haruno couldn't be happier with her life. She had survived the Fourth Shinobi War, saw her village rebuild, finally cleared things up with her teammate Sasuke Uchiha, and best of all she was in a relationship with Naruto. After the war finally finished Naruto and Sakura found the time to talk to each other and sort out their feelings for each other. It was a long talk, but after all was said and done the two teammates shared their first kiss, it was the first of many to come and that was nearly four months ago.

Things do have a way of changing fast and Sakura soon found that out one morning. It started like any normal day for her. She woke up and took her time getting out of bed since she had the day off, but today seemed different for her. After waking up Sakura started feeling sick to her stomach and immediately ran for the toilet. She began to throw up and after vomiting Sakura thought it might have been the food she ate last night, but not wanting to take any chances she began to look herself over with her chakra. Everything seemed fine with her until she past over a certain part of her stomach.

She gasped at what she discovered and thought maybe it was a mistake, but when she past over the area again it was the same reading. Sakura didn't want to admit it to herself, but it seemed as though she was pregnant. Fear started to get the better of her, but she held onto her calm demeanor for the moment as she tried to figure out just how many weeks she was along. After some quick calculations Sakura figured that she was barely six weeks pregnant.

How could something like this happen? Sakura had always been the smartest of her class, but yet she couldn't prevent something like this from happening. It must have been that first night Naruto and her shared together. It was her first time experiencing such a wonder act and she must have gotten caught up in the moment and forgot one very important thing. She couldn't exactly keep this to herself as Naruto needed to know. He was also partially responsible for this.

Sakura didn't know how he'd react to this. Sure he may act surprised and actually accept the child, but part of Sakura was scared that he'd berate her and break up with her since he still has his own personal goals to achieve and she was sure children wasn't part of that.

She put on her best smile despite the fear she was feeling and gently knocked on Naruto's door to his apartment. It only took a few moments for him to answer and when he saw Sakura standing on the other side he smiled at her.

"Sakura-chan! I'm surprised to see you here this early in the morning." Naruto said as he opened the door wider.

Sakura weakly smiled back at Naruto as she responded. "I thought I'd come by and see how my boyfriend was doing."

Even though they'd only been in a relationship for four months, years of being her teammate had honed Naruto's senses to razor sharp and the way Sakura responded definitely wasn't her. He knew something was wrong.

"I know you're not here to see how I'm doing Sakura-chan. There's something wrong isn't there?" Naruto said.

Sakura was shocked by Naruto's words, but at the same time a bit glad since it meant she didn't have to beat so much around the bush. "It's kinda personal and I really don't want anyone else to hear. Do you mind if we head inside?"

"Of course..."

Once they were inside Naruto and Sakura took a seat on his couch. Sakura wasn't sure how to tell Naruto the news and her fears finally got the better of her as she began to cry. It didn't last long as she felt Naruto gently pull her into a hug hoping it would provide some comfort for whatever she was going through.

She looked up to see him staring at her with worry as he spoke up. "What's the matter Sakura-chan? Usually you're not one to breakdown like this unless something bad happened."

Sakura gathered up all her courage as she responsed. "In a way something bad did happen..."

"Was it Sasuke? Did that bastard say something to you that made you upset? Because if he did, I'll go kick his ass for you Sakura-chan!" Naruto stated.

Sakura smiled a bit at Naruto's response, but that quickly faded as she pressed on. "No, Naruto it's nothing like that... it's just... this morning I woke up with a stomach ache and began to vomit. At first I thought I had a stomach flu or something, but when I checked myself out I found out that I was-" Sakura interrupted herself as she just couldn't say it and began to cry once again.

Naruto was confused by Sakura's actions and thought something must have really upset her. He wanted to support her to the best of his ability as he gently squeezed her hand. "Come on Sakura-chan, you can tell me. I'm always here to support you no matter what."

Sakura felt a bit better thanks to Naruto's words and decided it was time to stop beating around the bush. "I'm sorry if I got a bit emotional there Naruto, but it's kinda hard for me to say... I'll put it this way. Do you remember our first night together?"

Naruto blushed quite red remembering their first night together. It was quite the experience for him, but this wasn't the time to be thinking about that as he answered back. "Of course I do Sakura-chan. It was something amazing and something I'll never forget, but what exactly does this have to do-" Naruto cut himself off as he began to think about their first time together again, but more in-depth. He didn't think much of it at first, but the way Sakura was acting and how she broke down as they began to talk seemed too obvious. He thought she was on her period, but then the pieces began to fall in place. He gasped as he spoke. "You're trying to tell me that you're pregnant Sakura-chan?"

Sakura held her head down in shame as she nodded yes and tears streaked down her face once again. She knew what was coming next and closed her eyes waiting for Naruto to berate her, but the scolding never came as she felt herself once again wrapped in Naruto's embrace, but much tighter and was that tears she could feel coming from Naruto?

Sakura opened her eyes to see that Naruto was indeed crying as he looked at her happily. She didn't know what to make of it as she quietly spoke up. "So you're not mad at me Naruto?"

Naruto cried a bit more before answering. "Why would I ever be mad at you Sakura-chan? This is the best news I've heard since The Four Shinobi War ended!"

"You're not lying to me are you Naruto? I mean you're probably just shocked by the news right?" Sakura asked.

Naruto didn't response at first as he kissed Sakura on the lips and softly smiled at her. "I'd never lie to you Sakura-chan and I am a bit shocked by the news that you're pregnant, but at the same time I'm excited."

Sakura wasn't sure of how to response since she wasn't expecting Naruto to be this excited, but nevertheless she was happy as she pulled him into a hug of her own and cried some more. "I honestly didn't know how you'd react Naruto. I thought for sure you'd berate since I knew your goal involved becoming Hokage and I thought this might get in your way."

"You becoming pregnant would never get in my way Sakura-chan. It was actually one of my other goals after becoming Hokage. I'll just have to change up my plans a bit that's all." Naruto said as he laughed a bit.

Sakura responded by hugging him tighter and whispering thank you as he gently caressed some of her hair. "I can't thank you enough for this Sakura-chan. You're going to give me the family I never had and I can't wait until our little one is born." Naruto then gently rubbed Sakura's stomach hoping his child could feel him despite only starting to develop.

Sakura smiled at Naruto as she kissed him on the cheek before speaking up. "So if you're okay with me being pregnant this means I can tell my parents since they've been wondering how our relationship is going."

Naruto froze up when Sakura mentioned her parents. He'd been too caught up in the moment to realize that Sakura's parents might present a problem if they knew he knocked up their precious cherry blossom. He began to get dizzy at the thought of Sakura's parents reacting and it was too much for him as he passed out from thinking about it leaving Sakura in his lap wondering what happened. "Naruto? You okay?"


	14. Getting Even

Sakura Haruno was on her way towards Team Seven's old training grounds to meet her boyfriend Naruto Uzumaki there for their usual sparring session with each other. Sakura didn't exactly want to meet for another sparring session since most of them always ended in Naruto winning since he always seemed to find a way to win and it irked Sakura a little bit. She wasn't as skilled as Naruto in ninjustu, but she could hold her own against Naruto and his many antics of using his kage bushin and rasengan.

It was only so much thought before Sakura tired out and she'd have to call it quits. Today would be different though, Sakura had a foolproof plan that would work as she finally reached the training grounds and saw that Naruto was already there, sitting on the ground, almost falling asleep.

Sakura walked up to Naruto and he noticed her presence as he quickly got up and smiled at her. "Hey Sakura-chan! Glad to see you could finally make it."

She returned the smile before answering back. "Sorry if I was a little late Naruto, but shishou had me run a few errands before she let me go today."

"Don't worry about it. I figured Baa-chan had you doing something." Naruto laughed a bit before continuing. "Are you ready to start today's sparring session?"

"Yes, I am, but before we start sparring Naruto… I was wondering if you might make things fair today and instead of being a free for all, why don't we just make this taijustu only?" Sakura asked.

Naruto thought for a moment about Sakura's request as he could see a pleading look on her face, and usually he'd never deny her a request. He smiled as he answered back. "Sure Sakura-chan, I don't mind making it taijustu only. It would be a good way for me to touch up on some of my skills since I'm kinda rusty in using taijustu." Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Sakura smirked a bit as she responded. "Don't worry about it Naruto. I'm a bit rusty on taijustu too since shishou has working me to the bone at the hospital, but besides that how about we make things a bit more interesting by allowing weapons?"

"You mean like kunai and shuriken?" Naruto asked.

Sakura just nodded at Naruto and without warning she charged head on to Naruto who barely had time to avoid her chakra enhanced punch as it made a small crater in the full of the training field. Naruto sweated a bit as regained himself after Sakura's sneak attack. "Hey! That's not fair Sakura-chan! You said only taijustu and weapons were allowed!"

"You forget Naruto I'm an expert in taijustu thanks to shishou and I use chakra to enhance my attacks, so it's allowed!" Sakura said with a smirk as she tried to kick Naruto, but missed once again creating a much large crater.

Despite being only allowed to use taijustu and weapons Naruto proved he wasn't all ninjustu. He did fairly well in taijustu as he was able to counter most of Sakura's more powerful attacks and deliver a few of his own punches and kicks, but it seemed like he was holding back, not that Sakura didn't mind. She was finally able to connect with one of her chakra enhanced punches, but much to her surprise Naruto smiled as he skillfully countered the blow with a soft knee to the gut which sent Sakura reeling a few feet.

Their sparring session tried into a psychical one as after a few hours the training field was literally a battlefield. Craters and holes marked where Sakura had used her chakra enhanced attacks while kunai and shuriken stuck out of the wooden posts. Eventually both Sakura and Naruto were worn out and almost out of chakra. They both had enough for one final attack as they looked into each others eyes to see what the other would do. It was a tense moment as the both of them ran at each other. Sakura charged up some chakra in her leg to deliver one of her best attacks, the Heavenly Foot of Pain while Naruto withdrew two kunai from his pouch intent on using them for defense and once he found a weak spot in Sakura's attack use them to finish her off.

Naruto thought about throwing one of them to make Sakura attack immediately, but he was caught off guard as Sakura quickly punched the ground throwing him off balance and she launched herself into the air to deliver the Heaven Foot of Pain. Naruto wasn't going to be defeated that easily as he threw both kunai in succession at Sakura hoping the both of them would be enough to stop her. Sakura smirked as she saw both of the kunai coming towards her. _"This is what I've been waiting for… time to execute the last part of my plan!"_

The first kunai missed Sakura as she deflected it with her hand while the second one seemed to miss her much to Naruto's dismay as he put up his hands in a last ditch effort to defend himself from Sakura's attack. The attack never came as Naruto looked up to see that Sakura was standing right in front of him and she punched him squarely in the stomach knocking him down. Before Naruto could react he felt himself pinned to the ground as Sakura looked down at him with a smirk on her face.

"Looks like I win Naruto!" Sakura stated.

Naruto smirked himself as he answered back. "Not yet Sakura-chan-" he suddenly stopped himself as his eyes wandered down too far and noticed that Sakura's red vest had been cut slightly down the center revealing the fishnet she wore underneath. Realizing that he getting a good view Naruto turned his head to the side and blushed trying to avoid eye contact with Sakura. She wondered why he stopped talking and looked down at her vest to see what had been done.

Her smirk grew larger as she gripped the ripped portion of her vest and tore it until the vest was fully open exposing her flat toned stomach. Naruto was shocked by Sakura's actions and tried to hide his ever growing blush as Sakura bend down even more giving him a good look at her breasts.

"Sakura-chan! What the hell are you doing?! Cover yourself up!" Naruto said.

"What's the matter Naruto? I thought for sure you'd like to see me half naked." Sakura said seductively as she ran a hand over the fishnet where her breasts were.

"I would, but not when we're trying to spar! That's cheating!"

"Oh really? Why don't you try saying that to me when we go all out." Sakura said.

"Sakura-chan… what are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"I'm saying it's not fair to me when we go all out… you're able to use ninjustu so effectively and I'm always struggling to keep up with you. That's how you're always able to win, but during today's sparring session I decided to gain a bit of revenge on you by requesting we only use taijustu and weapons. I knew you were going to use both those kunai against me so I caught the first one and I could have easily dodged the second one, but I chose not to and let it rip part of my vest. I know that last attack I did wouldn't phase you and that's why I immediately pinned you to the ground. There's no way you could continue, not with my vest being torn open. It would distraction you to the point where it would be impossible to continue our sparring session. So that's why I said I won."

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the situation he was in since Sakura had a point as he responded. "You have a point Sakura-chan. There's no way I can compete with powerful weapons like those. You won fair and square…"

Sakura genuinely smiled at Naruto as she unpinned him and helped him to his feet. "I think it's best if we call it a day. I don't think the training field can take much more."

Naruto returned the smile as he held out his hand to Sakura. "Yeah… if we did anymore sparring we're liable to break the whole training fields and I don't think we want to put with the consequences of that."

They both shared a laugh as Sakura gladly took Naruto's hand and the both of them started to walk back towards the village, but Sakura stopped realizing that everyone in the village could see her fishnet. She blushed slightly red as she spoke up to Naruto. "Hey Naruto, how about you let me borrow that jacket of yours and if you do I just might let you see what else is underneath my clothing once we get back to you apartment. What do you say?"

Naruto blushed a bright shade of red and tried to hide the fact that he'd gotten a nosebleed from what Sakura said, but he wasn't complaining about it as he gladly handed his jacket to Sakura.


	15. Meeting Naruto's Parents

Sakura smiled at her daughter's sleeping form as she laid her down in her crib for the night. It had been an exciting day for the family as Sakura's parents finally got to meet Naruto for the first time. Sakura thought things would be tense between Naruto and her parents, but to her relief it seemed as though her parents accepted Naruto as their son-in-law or maybe it was Haruka and her cuteness that kept her parents in line, but whatever the case she was glad things turned out the way the did.

As Sakura tucked in Haruka she couldn't help but wonder how would Naruto's parents react to her marrying their son? Would they accept such a person into their family despite what happened between them? Sakura didn't want to think about the negatives and focused on the here and now, but still there were lingering doubts in the back of her mind. Perhaps it was a good time to talk to Naruto about his parents and see if she could get anymore information out of him about them, but that could wait until the morning since Sakura wanted to get some sleep.

She finished tucking Haruka in and kissed her on the cheek before gently closing the door behind her. Sakura got to her room and saw that Naruto was already asleep himself. She smiled as she laid down next to him. "Poor Naruto... I guess all that excitement from today tired him out."

She snuggled up close to him and a few minutes later Sakura was asleep herself thinking about what tomorrow would bring her. She didn't know what it was, but something was telling Sakura to wake up and she slowly opened her eyes to see that she wasn't in her home. The place seemed rather strange, it was just an empty space, void of anything and it seemed to go on for miles. Sakura tried to see if it was a genjustu, but the moment she focused some of her chakra it dissipated.

"This obviously isn't a genjustu and it seems like I'm restricted from using chakra, so what in the hell is this place?!" Sakura yelled out to see if anyone would answer her.

She didn't have to wait long as she heard a chuckle from behind her. "I guess I should expect that from someone who's never been in their own subconscious before."

Sakura immediately turned around and saw a man about Naruto's height standing before her. He even had the same blonde hair and blue eyes, but what set him apart from Naruto was his longer blonde hair and different facial features and the clothing he wore which was a dead giveaway at his identity. "The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze?" Sakura blurted out.

Minato chuckled a bit and smiled as he answered Sakura back. "I guess I should have changed into something different to hide my identity, but it's good to know I'm recognized by my son's wife. You're Sakura Haruno or should I say Uzumaki since you're married to my son now."

Sakura didn't answer as she was in a state of shock, but then again it's rare that you meet one of the greatest Hokages around, let alone realizing you're married to his son. Once she was over her first shock Sakura returned the smile. "I can't believe it! The Fourth Hokage is actually talking to me, but how exactly are you talking to me? You mentioned something about being in my subconscious?"

Minato nodded his head as he responded. "Indeed we are inside your subconscious Sakura. I was able to project myself from Naruto's mind into your mind, but I can only keep this up for so long as it drains what available chakra I have left."

"I don't want to sound rude err... what should I call you?" Sakura asked.

"Just call me dad or Minato since we're related now Sakura." Minato responded with a smile.

"Okay Minato... as I was saying I don't want to sound rude, but why are you inside my mind? Shouldn't you be inside Naruto's talking to him?"

"I would Sakura, but I felt your doubt earlier about if you'd be accepted by Kushina or me, so I figured instead of letting you walk around with this doubt, why not answer it myself. I'd let Kushina do it, but she'd probably spend half her time telling you what you should and shouldn't do with Naruto."

Both Sakura and Minato had a good laugh before he continued. "I'm not going to bore you with all the regrets I've had for not being there for Naruto, but I'm glad he fell in love with someone like you Sakura. You remind me a lot of my wife Kushina. You've definitely got a fiery temper, you're strong and opinionated, but best of all you love my son with all your heart and I couldn't ask for a better daughter-in-law. I'm sure Kushina would agree with me if she was here. You don't need to doubt yourself over wherever Kushina or I would accept you as family. The moment you married our son was the moment we accepted you into the family Sakura."

Minato surprised by Sakura's actions didn't expect her to start crying as she unexpectedly hugged him too."Thank you Minato! That means a lot to me... I didn't think you'd actually accept me as your daughter-in-law, but after hearing it from you it made me happy."

Sakura continued to cry as Minato did like any good parent would do and comfort her. They stayed liked this for a few moments after Sakura broke the hug and wiped her eyes smiling at Minato.

"Well, I believe it's time for me to go Sakura. It was good to finally have a word with my daughter-in-law and I wish I could stay longer, but my time is short." Minato said with a smile.

"Wait Minato! Before you go there's one other thing I'd like to ask you."

"What would that be Sakura?"

"How did you and Kushina meet?" Sakura asked.

Minato hesitated since he wasn't sure if this was a good time since he was about dissipate, but looking at Sakura and seeing that smile of hers convinced him to stay for as long as he could. He motioned to Sakura to join him on the ground. "Now this may take a while Sakura, but it also depends on how long I can keep myself here, so let's not delay..."

Sakura took a seat near Minato as he began talking about how he met Kushina. "I first met Kushina when we were academy students. She was first introduced to the class as a refugee from The Whirpool Village and after that she introduced herself and said her goal was to become Hokage of our village. The other kids didn't take too kindly to some outsider claiming they wanted the title of Hokage someday, so they started picking on her and made fun of her red hair. They also called Kushina a tomato because of the shape of her head."

While Minato continued talking about how he fell for Kushina because of her red hair, Sakura couldn't help but think of how similar the stories were. Minato loved Kushina for her red hair while Naruto loved Sakura for her forehead, both something they hated in their youths, but came to like because of the complements they received.

But there was something that set Minato's tale different from theirs as Sakura found out. "I was out one day by myself when I noticed thin strands of red hair on the ground. I didn't know what it was, but I followed them and eventually I found Kushina along with some shinobi that were trying to kidnap her for her special chakra. I easily defeated them and carried Kushina back in my arms because she got injured trying to fight them off. It was then I complemented her hair and told her how lovely it was. After that Kushina came to love me for who I was and after that we got married. I'd explain the rest, but I feel as though I've overextended my time here and a certain person wants me back now."

Minato stood up and helped Sakura to her feet as he spoke to her. "You've been quiet this whole time I explained how I met Kushina Sakura, but I have a feeling the reason you didn't say anything is that your tale almost mirrors ours right?"

Surprised by what Minato said Sakura saved her questions as she answered back. "It does in a way Minato, but there was a lot of complicating factors before I came to love Naruto..."

Minato put his hand on Sakura's shoulder and squeezed it. "You don't have to explain anything to me Sakura. There's always rough goings in any relationships, but the important thing is you finally realized where your heart truly lies. Naruto's going to need that more than ever Sakura if he wants to realize his dream. I know you'll do your best to support him. I believe in you!" Minato then moved his hand from Sakura's shoulder to her forehead as he smiled one last before disappearing.

Sakura found herself back in her house as she woke up and saw that Naruto had yet to move from his place earlier. She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek before whispering something into his ear. _"I'll always be here to support you no matter what Naruto."_


	16. Poisoned

It had been a few days since Naruto came back from doing a solo mission and he hadn't seen any of his friends or teammates in that time. It seemed like they'd all gone on their own missions leaving him alone. He didn't mind though as it allowed him to pass some time and think about things in his life, particularly his relationship with his teammate and close friend Sakura Haruno. They'd been on the same team for the last four years, although two of those years were spend away from Konoha so Naruto could train and fulfill a certain promise, but that wasn't on his mind now. Sakura was, and boy did he want to see her. He missed that smile of hers, and the cheerfulness she always brought with her despite being on the wrong side of her temper sometimes, then again it was his fault for acting like an idiot.

She would be back from her mission tomorrow and once she was back, Naruto would hang out with her, chat and see if maybe he could finally spill the beans and tell her what he felt. Those pleasant thoughts got interrupted by a sharp pain in his right arm as he turned to look at his poorly bandaged arm. It was a wound he received when he was out on his solo mission. A group of rouge ninja tried to ambush him and steal the scroll he was delivering, but like any enemy, they underestimated Naruto and paid the price.

He didn't kill them since he figured they'd leave him alone, but one of the rouge ninja faked being knocked out and when Naruto wasn't paying attention he stabbed him in his right shoulder with a kunai. Unfortunately for that ninja Naruto countered with a rasengan and drove it right into his chest ending the rogue ninja's life. Naruto hated killed, but the guy seemed desperate and it was the only way to protect the scroll. He pulled out the kunai and noticed it covered in something, but didn't pay attention to his wound since he figured Kurama would heal it.

That was days ago and now the wound was getting worse. It started off as a dull ache when he left Suna, but once he got home it started hurting like hell. He hid it from Tsunade because he didn't want her to worry and being tired, he wanted to get some sleep and figured it would heal itself after he got some rest, but it didn't and now the pain was at the point where any movement with his right arm made him cringe in pain. Perhaps he should get it looked at, but he preferred having Sakura looking at it since he considered her his personal nurse of sorts and she didn't seem to mind. Naruto went to bed that night thinking about Sakura's return while ignoring the pain in his right arm.

The next morning Naruto woke up feeling great, that is until he tried to put his weight on his right arm and instantly he felt pain. He hissed holding his arm.

"Dammit! What did that rogue ninja use? Was it some type of chemical he coated on his kunai? I don't know, but perhaps once Sakura-chan gets back, she can help me out." Naruto said to himself using his left arm to get out of bed. He walked to his bathroom and once he got in there, he looked into the mirror and saw that his face didn't have it's usually healthy color. He looked a bit pale and his eyes had dark circles under them. "Funny… I don't remember looking like this yesterday. Maybe I'm not feeling good since I haven't eaten anything." Naruto said as he splashed some water in his face, feeling better.

Naruto ate some ramen like he usually did and headed out afterwards to see if his friends were back from their mission yet and once he reached the front gates he was happy to see all his friends standing there. They talked to each other about the mission they just completed, but Naruto's attention got drawn to the sight of pink hair. Standing not to far from him was Sakura and she was in a good mood as she talked to Ino and the other kunoichi.

Naruto was about to go over to her and ask her how the mission was, but she ended up walking away and telling the others she needed to report to Tsunade about the mission. He wouldn't stop her from doing that, so Naruto would wait until she returned, in the mean time he would catch up with his other friends and he was about to talk to them when he felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see a familiar face. "Kiba!"

Kiba smiled at Naruto as he slapped his right shoulder making him cringe, but he hid it with a smile. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd show up and greet us, but with Sakura here, it was almost a guarantee." Kiba smirked.

"Shut up Kiba! You know it's nothing like that! Sakura-chan is just a good friend and a teammate! I care about her as a friend, nothing more!" Naruto exclaimed getting embarrassed.

Kiba chuckled before settling down and smiling at Naruto. "I was only kidding Naruto, and seriously... the way you look at her makes me think you care about her as more than a friend."

Naruto sighed as he looked in the distance at Hokage Tower. "Maybe you're right Kiba, but I just want to make sure Sakura-chan stays safe… I still have to fulfill my promise to her and I want to see her alive once I do."

Kiba knew it was always a tough subject about what happened four years ago since he was part of the retrieval team that got sent after Sasuke. It almost ended in disaster for all of them and thinking about it brought up painful memories. It was best to avoid talking about it as Kiba changed the subject. "So I bet you wanna know what happened to us during the mission right?"

Naruto nodded his head as Kiba began to explain the mission to him and the details, but Naruto had a hard time focusing as he started seeing two Kibas when there was only one. Even Kiba noticed something was wrong with Naruto. "Hey Naruto, what's up? You're starting to sweat and you look paler than usual? Are you all right?" He asked.

Naruto took a moment to answer as he suddenly found it difficult to talk. "I'll be fine Kiba… I think I need some sleep though."

"Maybe you should head home for now… the others are probably gonna head home and relax a bit before meeting up at the barbecue place. You up for it?" Kiba asked.

"Sure…" Naruto started out as he got dizzy and nearly fell on the ground. "I'll be better once I get some sleep. I'll talk to you later Kiba!" Naruto said walking past Kiba, but almost ran into him and Akamaru, making them both wonder what was wrong with him.

**XxXxXxXx**

Naruto had a harder time getting home than he thought as he vision started getting worse and to the point that it made him want to vomit. So he closed his eyes and felt his way back to his apartment. A lot of the villagers wondered what was wrong with Naruto and why he closed his eyes, but they ignored him like always. He felt so helpless and there was nothing he could do or at least until Sakura showed up, but the chances of that happening were slim and none since Sakura was probably off enjoying the rest of her day off. Naruto felt like he was making progress until a careless villager ran into him, making him fall over. "Hey, why don't you watch where the hell you're going!" The villager said getting up and leaving Naruto.

"Great, just great… now I'll have to get up on my own." Naruto said opening his eyes briefly and nearly vomiting because everything was so blurry and out of focus. He managed to get up, but that was as far as he got when he heard a voice. "Naruto?" It sounded very familiar and it could only began to one person, his teammate Sakura, but just to make sure Naruto called out to her. "Is that you Sakura-chan?"

"Who else would it be?" Sakura said as she walked up to Naruto. "I was wondering where I'd find you since Kiba told me you were heading back to your apartment, but you weren't there, so I came looking for you."

"I thought I'd take my time getting back since I've got nothing else to do." Naruto joked hoping Sakura wouldn't notice his condition right away.

"That sounds about you Naruto, but I came looking for you because I wanted to know how your mission went." Sakura said.

Just when Naruto was about to answer he felt his insides began to hurt immensely and it caused him to vomit, but he did it away from Sakura so she wouldn't get hit. Whatever was happening to him started getting worse as Naruto gave into his fatigue and fell down on the ground. Sakura immediately went into medic-nin mode as she rushed over to Naruto's side. "Naruto!" She put her hand to his forehead and felt how warm he was. "Naruto you're burning up, what happened to you?"

Naruto felt it was useless in hiding the truth so he explained to Sakura what happened. "While I was on my solo mission, I got attacked by some rogue ninja. I easily defeated them, but one of them faked being knocked out and attacked me with a kunai coated in something… I don't know what it was, but the wound is on my right shoulder."

Sakura didn't say anything as she rolled up Naruto's sleeve on his right arm and saw the poorly bandaged wound. The gauze had fresh blood on it as she ripped it off and examined the wound. "My god Naruto… this wound is horrible. What the hell did that ninja use?"

"I don't know, but it's making my arm and insides feel painful… can you do anything to relieve the pain?" He asked in a pained tone.

"I'll see what I can do Naruto, but until I know exactly what's going on, you'll just have to bear with me." Sakura said as her hand glowed green and she ran it over the wound. Her healing didn't have any effect on the wound and it refused to close.

"What type of wound is this?" Sakura then ran her hand over the wound, checking it out for any possible signs until she noticed something purplish leaking from the wound. It was a liquid and right away Sakura recognized it. "You've been poisoned Naruto, we've got to get you to the hospital to get this extracted!" She exclaimed turning her attention back to Naruto and realized he hadn't moved since she started looking at the wound. "The poison made him pass out, but if I don't get it extracted soon, it's gonna end up killing him!"

Sakura kept her emotions under control as she used her chakra enhanced strength to pick Naruto up and carry him to the hospital. On their way there he seemed to float in and out of conscious groan out Sakura's name, asking for her help. "Don't worry Naruto, I'm gonna help you." She said as she lightly stroked his hair and cried somewhat. Once the got to the hospital, Sakura immediately called for some other nurses to help her as she explained the situation and brought Naruto to the correct room to get treated. The nurses listened to Sakura and they had all the proper supplies needed to extract the poison from Naruto. There was two male nurses in there for obvious reasons as they would hold down Naruto, so Sakura could extract the poison without him moving too much.

Once Naruto was down on the bed, the male nurses held him at points where Sakura told them too. She removed one of the poison extracting bubbles and put it besides Naruto's arm. "This is gonna hurt Naruto, but I know you've experienced worse pain." She said as she carefully put the bubble into the wound as Naruto's reaction was immediate. He jumped up, screaming in pain as the poison got extracted from him. The male nurses did their job of keeping him in place as Sakura removed the bubble.

She took a moment to look at the poison gathered and noticed one difference between this one and the one Sasori used. The one the rouge ninja made was much weaker and not as potent, but it still had the same effects. It took longer to work and she concluded thanks to Kurama, Naruto was able to resist the poison for the first day or so, but it eventually got deep enough into his arm to where it started effecting him. Sakura was lucky enough to catch it before it got worse.

Even if there wasn't a lot of poison it was still painful for Sakura to hear Naruto's cries of pain as she removed the poison. It nearly brought her to tears in one moment because Naruto nearly overpowered the male nurses because the last bit of poison was so well embedded in him. Once the last of the poison got removed Sakura give Naruto an antidote to make sure the poison was gone for good. The other nurses stuck around asking if Sakura needed any help, but she told them she was fine and once they were gone, Sakura finally let herself go as she stood over Naruto and cried.

"You idiot…" She said gently caressing his whiskered cheek. "I almost lost you and I don't know what I'd do if I did."

Sakura finally let the tears flow she'd been holding back earlier as she took a chair and sat besides Naruto squeezing his hand, hoping he'd wake up soon. She used her other hand to continue stroking his whiskered cheek as she softly smiled at him. "At least I was able to do something else for you besides healing…" Sakura whispered softly as she began to close her eyes, tired from what happened. Her words seemed to reach Naruto despite his sleeping state as he gently squeezed her hand back.

Naruto awoke sometime later slowly opening his eyes to see that his vision was back to normal and his whole body felt normal. He turned his head slightly to see Sakura still gripping his left hand with her right. Naruto softly smiled at Sakura as he used his right arm which felt numb to gently stroke some of her pink hair. "I may have been unconscious Sakura-chan, but I know what you did. You saved my life Sakura-chan and I'm grateful for that. Even if you claim all the small things you do for me are nothing, they all add up in the end and it's one of the reasons why I love you." Naruto said figuring Sakura wouldn't hear him, but her eyes began to open slowly and once she was fully awake Sakura smiled at him "You know confessions like that are usually best when the person is awake."

Naruto blushed crimson as Sakura caught him red handed and tried to deny it. "I didn't say anything like that Sakura-chan! Maybe your lack of sleep is making you hear things!"

Sakura giggled as she got up from her chair and bend down to kiss Naruto on the cheek. "You had me so worried idiot, but I'm glad your better…" She stopped for a moment to smile at him again. "About your little confession… since I saved your life, I think it's only fair if you pay for me when we meet up with the others at the barbecue place and afterwards we'll talk a walk, so you can better explain yourself." She smirked as she got up and headed towards the door. "I expect my date will pick me up, right?" She asked closing the door behind her and not letting Naruto answer her.

_"That should throw Naruto for a loop, but I really meant what I said… I wanna give him a chance and see if he'll be a proper gentlemen. I know I shouldn't demand things out of him like that, but it will help him recover faster and I should hear the first signs of his recovery any moment now." _Sakura said.

Just like she predicted there were sounds of cheering coming from Naruto's room as he exclaimed he was gonna take Sakura out on a date even though she demanded that he did. Naruto was already recovering from the poison and all it took to make him better was a simple date.


End file.
